25 To Life And Death Row
by The Bloody Red Queen Of Angst
Summary: "He knew that this was his chance. His chance to make a name for himself in the private sector of the law. Going through the appeals process held far less risk than defending a capitol case. The man was already on Death Row...so there was nothing left to lose." Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket OR the legendary Ice Prince. Shame. *Complete*
1. Pilot

_'There's a room in a hotel in New York City..._

 _...that shares our fate and deserves our pity.'_

Sitting himself silently on the stiff metallic, cafeteria-style bench, the small manila file in his hand made its way to the vile lime-green table top. His standard contract of legal representation...though this meeting was anything but _'standard'_.

 _Nothing_ about this was standard. Perhaps why he had considered offering his services in the first place. To begin with...this wasn't even technically classified as a case. The defendant had already gone through the trial process and had been found guilty, and was already well into three years of serving their sentence on Death Row. So there was no case.

Not that this really mattered to him. As a court-appointed attorney looking to move into the more lucrative business of private practice, he hadn't been interested in committing career suicide by defending such a high profile murder case. Some poor sap had already done that for him. And they had lost. He was already well aware of how badly the case had played out in the courts.

...everyone knew...

From the very moment the murder had been publicized, nearly four years ago by now, he had made a point of closely following the case. It was immediately sensationalized...on many levels. The crime had occurred in America, so the dispute over jurisdiction caused the case to be televised internationally. The defendant and victim had both been Japanese citizens, but the American government fought to try the case on US soil. They had lost. And things had only become more spectacular once the trial had actually begun.

Due to the grotesquely barbaric and graphic nature of the crime, the prosecution had sought the death penalty immediately...and without reservation. And though he had only just completed law school when the trial had begun, it didn't take a lawyer to see that the defense had been a complete shit show. The defendant's private attorney had terminated their contract due to lack of funds, and the defendant had been left with a pro bono public defender. For a capitol case. And though he had not been entirely convinced of the defendant's claim of innocence, there was no way that the case could have been won. Even with the lack of physical evidence.

There was no weapon. None that had been found, anyway. But what the prosecution _did_ have...was a hotel room. The walls decorated and dripping with blood. So much blood. And a beautiful young woman who had been brutally sliced open, her naked torso maliciously shred into oblivion. He knew that the woman had been beautiful...because the prosecution had made it a point to show photos of what she had looked like before she had been murdered. Always...they made sure to quickly follow the photos of what she had looked like with the more grotesque crime scene photographs. Each photo they cleverly categorized and offered up as evidence for the prosecution. But having actually studied law...he knew better. It'd had absolutely nothing at all to do with the law. This was about an emotional reaction. A human response. The prosecution had done this for visceral effect. To generated hatred and disgust at such a beautiful woman having had her life so viciously ended. And it had worked. The prosecution had a whole nation crying out...demanding that blood be paid with blood.

The jury had taken little time to convict. And the prosecution had their victory in a guilty verdict and death sentence.

...there was no way that this case could have been won...

But by far the most scandalous piece of this tragic case, as if the entire even hadn't been horrific enough as it stood, were the defendant and the victim themselves. A husband and wife. Married only days before. In New York City celebrating their honeymoon.

The woman had been a social insignificant. A teenaged orphan of a small Japanese province. An elementary school teacher. Unrecognizable until her outlandishly publicized engagement to an attractive philanthropist and socialite of one of Japan's most well known families.

Everyone knew of the Sohma family, and their influence was felt far and wide throughout the country. From the many and well documented charitable donations, to the significant political sway, the Sohma family was often likened to their 'American royalty' counterparts of the Rockefellers or Kennedys.

The Sohmas. Japanese royalty. Beautiful aristocrats. And when a Sohma had dared to propose marriage to a common woman...well...the whole of Japan rejoiced with him as the country gained their very own Kate Middleton. Honda Tohru had become an overnight celebrity through her engagement to Sohma Yuki, followed by the most lavish wedding Japan had ever witness. And then she gained eternal infamy when she had been murdered by his hand. Cruelly dubbed the Blood Stained Bride by the myriad of news feeds and garish tabloids.

Restless fingertips drummed along the sickening lime green tabletop as he waited before they finally reached for the pack of cigarettes in the pocket of his black suit-pants. The mechanical flick of his lighter came quickly followed with the first drag of the cigarette and an agitated sigh of smoke. Thoughts and details of the case, having quickly lost interest and fire with the people of Japan once justice had been deemed served, swam through his mind as his lips gave another drag of consideration to the cigarette poised between his fingers.

He had his reasons for his interest in this case...or lack there of. When he had heard that the infamous 'Sohma Prince' had been requesting an attorney for the appeals process, he knew that this was his chance. His chance to make a name for himself in the private sector of the law. Going through the appeals process held far less risk than defending a capitol case. The man was already on Death Row...so there was nothing left to lose. On either side of the prison bars.

...but...if he played his cards right...

If he actually managed to successfully overturn the death sentence for The Prince, Kyo knew that this would create a significant amount of attention for him as a defense attorney. He still wasn't entirely convinced of Sohma Yuki's relentless proclamation of innocence...but that wasn't really necessary to win the appeals process. In this line of work, Kyo had found that innocence was merely a matter of opinion. And in his experience, personal beliefs and opinions never held up well in court. Kyo worked better with concrete facts and evidence. And the cold hard truth? Most people care very little to nothing about the personal opinions and thoughts of others.

Gently tapping off the excess ash into the tray provided on the putrid looking table, another sigh separated itself from him before his attention was pulled towards the approaching convoy of armed guards. And in the center, bathed in orange and metallic silver shackles...the one he had come to see. Momentarily placing what was left of his cigarette in the ashtray, Kyo stood from the seat in greeting to the group and gave a small bow...more out of habit than anything else. Sitting himself back down, Kyo watched with a level of forced indifference as the prisoner was assisted to a seated position on the opposite side of the table before being chained in place.

The bright orange of the man's prison suit violently clashed with the green of the table, making Kyo avert his gaze from the disturbing color pallet. But the man's face... His face, Kyo had seen so many times before. In magazines. On the television. In news articles in print or on the internet. But the man's face now seemed so very different from the one Kyo remembered from years ago. The face was that of Sohma Yuki...there was no doubt about that. But his features seemed so hardened and cold compared to the softer...almost effeminate...face displayed on the pages of magazines. Taking in the finer details of his potential client, Kyo noticed that along the hollow of each cheek were faint...matching lines. Scars that ran the length of his cheekbones to nearly the corners of his lips. Lips that were now drawn taught in unamusement towards Kyo's staring.

"Sohma-san." Kyo murmured this greeting through the clearing of his throat, extending his hand in offering to the man across the table.

The metallic sound as the man reached over to take his hand unnerved Kyo. The sound alone was unsettling. And as the two shared an awkward handshake, Kyo saw through the handcuffs that linked the man's hands together, taking in the thick, brutal, almost violent scars that marred the pale flesh of his wrists.

"Counselor." The low response to Kyo's greeting parted the man's lips as Kyo's gaze drifted to meet empty amethyst in return before he saw them shift to the lit cigarette still lingering in the ashtray, momentarily forgotten. "Any way I could get one of those from you?" And Kyo looked from his cigarette, to the man sitting before him, before his gaze drifted questioningly to the guards still lingering close by as one of them gave a silent nod of concession to Kyo that this was allowable.

Fishing out the pack of cigarettes he had brought with him, Kyo extended it in offering as he watched the man's hands reach over the table as slender fingertips gratefully took one from the package. Leaning forward as far as the restraints would allow him, the man took a satisfying drag of the cigarette as Kyo lit it for him before placing both the cigarettes and lighter out of sight. A small whisper of smoke gently pushed itself through the man's nose as the cigarette came poised between his fingers, lingering before his face as he gazed at it in a moment of wonder and consideration.

"You have no idea what I have to go through in order to get one of these..." His voice drifted through the space between them as his lips met the end of the cigarette in a lovers kiss...and something in the tone of the man's voice told Kyo that he never really wanted to find out.

Taking the lingering cigarette from the ashtray, Kyo quietly placed his fingers along the manila folder, pushing the contents towards the man as he himself took a drag from the cigarette between his fingers.

"Before we go over my contract, I'd like to explain what you should expect from the appeals process." Kyo murmured professionally through the cloud of smoke that was startlingly dispelled with the sharp, bitter manifestation of laughter from the man across the table.

"What's so funny?" Kyo asked, curbing his more instinctual nature towards anger at being laughed at as the man finally composed himself into silence, his cold amethyst eyes intently gazing through the curl of smoke from the cigarette held in between his clasped hands.

"It's funny..." The man murmured, his voice low and empty as his gaze. "...that you believe I actually need to have this process explained to me." And the unintentional formation of a scowl slowly shaped Kyo's features as he pushed out an agitated sigh of smoke through his nose.

"Why would that be funny to you?" Kyo quipped, his tone gaining an edge. "This is why you requested an attorney, isn't it?"

"Tell me something, counselor." The man breathed through the whisper of smoke. "Exactly how long _have_ you been practicing law?"

"I don't see why that matters." Kyo responded coldly, taking another drag of his cigarette.

"How long, counselor...?" Each word came slow...biting...pointed like the tip of a nail forced down into a hard surface.

"Over three years." Kyo murmured in response as he watched a small smirk twitch along the corner of the man's lips.

"And how much do you know about this case?" He murmured lightly through the smirk and a spiral of smoke.

"I followed it from beginning to end through news feeds and the televised trial." Kyo answered honestly, only to be met with a resounding snort of smoke and bitter amusement.

"Then you know absolutely _shit_ about this case." The man stated before he fired his next question. "Do you have a girlfriend? Wife?" He asked, his gaze penetrating as Kyo's brows furrowed at the possible relevance of this question.

"A girlfriend..." Kyo admitted, though he was unwilling to divulge any more about his significant relationships with this man.

"And do you have any hobbies?" The next question was tossed into the vast expanse between them as Kyo gave this question a moment of consideration.

"Martial arts." Kyo murmured as he watched the slow nod of the man's head before he took another drag of his cigarette.

"So many things other than the law to fill your time." He whispered quietly, his gaze drifting to the table and manila folder. "So many distractions..." The man's voice came so cold and distant as Kyo continued to listen. "So...believe me when I tell you this, _counselor_." Amethyst eyes flitted back from the table, their intensity hitting Kyo like a violent slap to the face. "I _know_...without a shadow of a doubt...that I have more knowledge of the law than you do." The man's words came almost insulting as he continued. "The only reason I _need_ you, is because...by _law_...I am not allowed to go through the appeals process without legal representation." And Kyo couldn't help the bitter snort of amusement and cigarette smoke through his nose as he fully absorbed the level of this man's self entitled arrogance.

Kyo had heard rumors of Sohma Yuki's pompous nature among the aristocrats and higher social circles. And now that he had actually met him in person...Kyo was absolutely certain that he would grow to deeply dislike the man.

"So I take it you have a long line of lawyers willing to help you get off free, then?" Kyo retorted, his heavy tone of sarcasm masking the frustrated agitation over his skills having been so blatantly insulted by this man.

And yet again that black, bitter laughter manifested from the man in chains. His expression came a mixture of amused disappointment as he continued to laugh in Kyo's face, his elbows resting on the sickly green table...his wrists bound together as his fingers clung to the token gift. Shaking his head as he averted his gaze for a moment, he finally regained himself with a desperate sigh as that amethyst gaze sought Kyo's face once more.

"You _really_ don't get it, do you?" These words stifled yet another chuckle. "I could care less about my freedom." The man's voice came so resentful, lace with something like pain. "There is absolutely _nothing_ out there that I care about." His hands indicated to a window of the visitors center...the cigarette poised between his fingers momentarily forgotten as he continued to stare at Kyo. "What I _want_..." He hissed, his voice dropping to just above a whisper. "...is justice. And the only way I can have _that_ is to prove that _I_ didn't murder my wife."

Kyo sat in rapture of this man's profession. After everything the man had been through. The trial. The guilty verdict. The sentencing. And three years on Death Row. None of this had seemed to diminish the intensity of this man's claim. It's fervor and sincerity in the face of his current circumstances.

"I know that if I can prove I didn't do it...this will force the court to reopen her case..." The man whispered almost desperately to himself before his gaze drifted back to Kyo's mildly befuddled expression.

"And no..." This sigh came on the heels of smoke and and a level of bitter resignation as the man once again tended to the cigarette lingering between his fingers. "No one has come to help me with this process...except for you. And I assume you're fully aware that I can't pay you." He murmured as Kyo gave a silent nod of concession. "So tell me something before I sign this contract of yours. Why are _you_ so eager to take on this process for me?" This question came lowly whispered as Kyo drew in a breath of consideration, taking a final drag of his cigarette before snuffing it out in the tray as the smoke came pushed from his nose.

"I'm interested in helping you prove your innocence." Kyo murmured, venturing that it might be a good idea to warm himself to this man if he were to be representing him as his attorney.

"So...you're _actually_ telling me that you believe I didn't murder my wife...?" The man's tone came cold and full of doubt with the raise of a dubious eyebrow.

"...yes...I suppose I am." Kyo offered in an attempt to convince the man that he was actually on his side, only to watch his expression shift to one of blank stone as the cigarette was snuffed out against the palm of his hand and the butt carelessly discarded into the tray before he spoke.

"Then you can leave now." He spat, his tone as hardened as the expression etched across his scarred features. "Guards...the counselor and I are finished here." And Kyo watched as the few attendants moved to respond to the man's call to end the meeting.

"Wait..." Kyo's voice came firm in the face of his desperation to offer this man his services. "You really want to know why I'm doing this?" And this question was met with the same intensity and heat as amethyst eyes turned towards him.

"I want you to tell me the truth..." The man deadpanned coldly, this statement a challenge that left Kyo to wonder exactly how he should proceed in this conversation.

...and consider exactly how badly he really wanted this opportunity...

"I think that I have a real shot at this appeals process, and proving your innocence. And a successful appeal of the death sentence for 'The Ice Prince' will look _really_ good on my resume." Kyo boldly offered, gauging the man's response as he continued with the truth this man had demanded. "There's nothing to lose for either of us if this process fails...but...we both have something to gain if I win."

"And you think that you can win?" The man asked, and Kyo saw from the look on his face that the truth had settled so much better with him than a false attempt at gaining his favor...and Kyo made a mental note to remember this about him in the future.

"I do." Kyo spoke, his voice honest and confident in this statement, giving a small nod as the man sat in silent contemplation before he spoke...his voice quiet as he asked.

"Where do I sign?" This question was met with a growing smirk of approval at Kyo's response as Kyo himself let out a satisfied chuckle at having finally won the man over.

Papers were signed and Kyo's process of representation was gone through before he finally stood to dismiss himself in triumph. Turning away from the man and his entourage in order to leave as quickly as possible, Kyo began his stride before a voice came to halt his departure from the prison's visiting center.

"Counselor." The man's voice came loud enough for Kyo to hear as he glanced over he shoulder to see that the guards were still in the process of unchaining him from where he sat.

"Yes?" Kyo asked, turning on his heels to meet the man's gaze.

"Do you think you could do me a favor, now that you're working for me?" And a smirk of his own began to creep along Kyo's lips.

"Sure." He offered. "What do you want?"

"There was a photo of my wife that the prosecution took during the trial...and I'd like it back." The man murmured softly as he was made to stand by one of the guards. "You'll know which one it is when you see it." He offered as Kyo gave a solemn nod before the man was taken away, calling over his shoulder. "And make sure to bring more cigarettes the next time you come to see me." And Kyo couldn't help the slight laughter that passed through his lips with the shake of his head as he made his way out of the prison with his first task from 'The Ice Prince.'

* * *

 **A/N: I sincerely hope that you all have enjoyed this new project of mine. I am currently trying to see if I can push myself for a different feel in my writing, so to speak, and constructive criticism is more than welcome for improvement! Let me know what you think!**

 **As for those of you waiting on "Departed," have no worries my children. The next chapter is soon to follow this.**


	2. A Lifetime In A Single, Precious Moment

**A/N: This chapter features some fluff. Please be gentle on me, as this is not normally my genera.**

* * *

" _A birth and a death on the same day..."_

The door slowly opened, spilling light from the hallway into the darkened room.

"Wait right here..." This lowly whispered request came to dispel the silence, followed by the lightest giggle of chimelike laughter.

Large azure eyes followed the retreating figure into the shadows before the room was flooded with the soft glow of ambiance lighting. The lavish space came colored in soothing neutrals and beautiful crème, beige, and browns. And from the vast expanse of the room, to its very edge, came a large wall-length bay window overlooking the New York City skyline. As the soft melody of instrumental jazz gently stirred the silence, another chorus of light airy laughter came in sweet tandem with the music.

The shuffling of footsteps manifested throughout the room underneath the music and joyous giggles before the figure once again reappeared at the threshold of the door.

"Are you ready?" The deeper voice murmured through a smile as another adorable giggle of anticipation came in response.

"You really don't need to do this, Yuki." The sweet words came so filled with love and awe over the open display of affection, causing the warmest of smiles to wash along his lips.

"From the very moment I met you...I _knew_ I wanted to keep you forever." This breathless whisper passed through the smile along his lips. "And I want to spend the rest of my life sweeping you off your feet, Mrs. Sohma." This vow came sealed in such sweetness as their lips met and touched, palm to palm in a holy palmers' kiss.

"You have everything?" He asked, patiently waiting for her to ready herself.

Yuki gently gave her assistance, claiming the bags she had gathered in their day of adventure along the New York strip. And in his thoughts, he had to marvel at what his wife had really purchased. Through the treasure trove of shops they had visited, she hadn't bought a single thing for herself. Not one...the bags he now held containing gifts and momentos she had gotten for others. Her friends. Her colleagues and fellow teachers. Even managing to remember a small token trinket for each of the children in her classroom. Smiling to himself he fancied that if he hadn't gone and purchased something for her himself, his wife might very well have left New York with nothing of her own.

...and she would still have been overjoyed...

His wife's genuine selflessness outshone and put to shame every single act of charity he had ever done throughout his life. With all of his family's endless resources at the tips of his fingers...Yuki found he could never even come _close_ to matching the loving self-sacrifice his wife seemed to do naturally. Every single day. In simple...little acts of kindness.

Her kindness... That was what had first drawn him to her, he remembered. This kindness radiated off of her like light and warmth from the sun. And he knew... Yuki _knew_ that all he wanted in this life...from the very moment he had met her...was to make her happy.

...she deserved that, and so much more...

Watching as she gathered her purse to herself, she gave a small smile to him and a nod that she was ready. And with this Yuki gently placed his arms around her in such a way as to gather her into himself. As he lifted her from the ground, the smile along her lips grew. And Yuki found that he could live contently the rest of his days with that smile alone. As he held her bridal style, he took a small moment to lovingly kiss her forehead before he effortlessly carried her across the threshold of the lavish hotel room. With her...everything seemed to come so effortlessly for him. And gazing into her eyes as he carried her to the bed, Yuki wondered if she truly understood how fully she completed him. In every way.

Placing the bags along the floor by her feet, he perched to her level, the softest smile creeping along his lips as he once again marveled at her beauty.

"I'm going to wash up before we go out to dinner." He whispered tenderly to her, stroking her hair as she smiled at him. "And...I'm not too sure, with the time difference, but I think you might be able to catch the new episode of Iron Chef before we have to go." And at this she crinkled her button nose with the most beautiful laughter he had ever heard.

And with this, Yuki quietly dismissed himself to the bathroom, giving a stolen side-glance to his wife as she immediately went to turn on the TV. Before closing the door to the bathroom...listening to the sound of the food show in the background...knowing his wife was contently watching...Yuki imagined that this small moment of peace and joy couldn't possibly come any more perfect.

Having washed away the day's outing and muggy embrace of the New York air, Yuki took his time exiting the steamy bathroom in his boxers, toweling his hair dry as he made his way towards finer clothing for tonight's dinner. But as he stepped from the bathroom, Yuki found himself completely derailed from this task by what he saw. From the scene, Yuki could make out that his wife had found the beautiful evening cocktail dress he had bought her for this dinner. But...the dress laid momentarily forgotten along the bed, abandoned by his wife as he watched her gaze out the window at the New York skyline. In that moment...her expression was so filled with awe over the vastness of the city. So innocent as she gazed at the many lights and buildings. Like the wonderment of a small child greeting Christmas morning with its many twinkling lights, decorations, and gifts. And the smile of contentment along his own lips at her happiness couldn't avoiding turning slightly impish with the fact that she had sacrificed dressing for their dinner to admire the view in her modest underwear.

As quietly as he could. With as much stealth as he could possibly manage. Yuki made his way to his wife's handbag to retrieve the old, classic Polaroid camera he knew was there. He had insisted on getting her a new, digital camera...but she simply wouldn't hear of it. She hadn't wanted him fussing over her like that. Sneaking the camera from her purse, he quietly tiptoed his way to secretly angle himself for the best shot for this impromptu photograph. And in a breathless moment of time, he managed to capture the immortality of this angel before the sound of the antiquated Polaroid attracted the beauty's attention.

"Yuki?!" This squeak of an exclamation burst forth from her lips as he began to chuckle, watching revelation dawn across her beautiful features at discovering what he had just done.

"Did you..." She began, her azure eyes gazing at him intently. "...did you just take a picture of me?" And the only response to this question was the confirmation of the photograph as Yuki waved it in his hand to develop...that same impish smile lingering along his lips with the small waggle of his eyebrows.

"And if I did...?" Yuki countered playfully, enjoying the little game he had just started as she gave him the most adorable scowl.

"Then you'll give it to me right this minute, mister." She scolded, stalking her scantily clad body towards him.

"Well that's a bit naughty..." Yuki murmured through his growing smile before his expression feigned seriousness. "I hope you don't scold your students like that..." His tone attempted to come just as serious as his expression, but instead came off more than slightly sensuous and a bit husky with that debonairly impish grin as he watched his wife's beautiful face flush a brilliant shade of red.

"Yuki Sohma!" And his lower lip came tucked between his teeth to stifle his amusement towards this chastisement.

"But you get all of the _other_ photos of New York." Yuki argued, meeting her ineffectively stern gaze with his smile as he instinctively held the preciously captured image above his head protectively away from her reach. "This one's mine."

"Yuki!" She moaned in protest with an irresistible pout along her lips, attempting to retrieve the indecent picture from his hand as he gave a helpless chuckle. "Give me the picture! It's not funny anymore."

"You're absolutely right." Yuki bowed to her whim in seriousness before that same impish smile spread along his lips. "Besides...I think I want the real thing a little more." And with this he wrapped his free arm around her bared waist as she gave out a squeak of surprise at the way he carried her off to the bed.

Gently placing her at the edge of the lavish bed as he abandoned the photo, Yuki came to his knees on the floor in submission before her, between her legs as he stared at her for a moment. She was so beautiful. Not just possessing an outward beauty. Though in this moment, as she was now, he would have been lying to himself if he would have denied his sexual attraction to her. But her beauty was all-consuming, shining from the inside out. A beacon of light that radiated from her soul.

"Are you happy, Tohru?" Yuki asked in earnest, his amethyst gaze peering into peaceful azure as she smiled down upon him, her fingertips coming to gently brush away the damp hair along his forehead.

"Of course I'm happy, silly." Her voice came so very sweet and soothing to his soul now. "I couldn't be more happy." She whispered to him, running her fingers along the back of his neck as she absorbed the infinitesimal shapings of sorrow along his face. "What's wrong, Yuki?" And at this question a small sigh escaped him.

"I just wish that she would have decided to come, is all." Yuki murmured this bitter lamentation over the fact that his own mother had failed to make an appearance at their wedding ceremony. "I mean...even _Aya_ showed up. And I haven't talked to him in years." At the mention of his estranged brother, a gentle expression of empathetic understanding shaped his newlywed bride's face.

"I know how much that hurt you..." She whispered tenderly to him, continuing to stroke the back of his neck as he lightly shook his head.

"I didn't want it for me." He murmured, his gaze far off as he spoke in confidence to his life partner. "I always knew how she felt about me. And the more I knew, the less I began to care." His voice grew low with the seriousness of his tone as his gaze drifted up to the face of his lover. "But you deserve more respect from her. She..." Yuki's voice came in the breath of a whisper. "...she should have at least come to our wedding for you..." A sigh passed through his nose with these words as his lips parted once more. "...and I'm really sorry about that, Tohru..."

"You worry too much, Yuki." She softly cooed to him, gazing lovingly into his amethyst eyes. "I'm sure that she had her reasons for not coming." Tohru lilted warmly to her husband. "And I think that all she ever really wanted was what was best for you." And at this tender consolation Yuki couldn't help the small, bitter snort that escaped him.

"If that were true, she would have accepted you the second that I did." Yuki whispered. "She would see how happy you make me." And at this, Tohru's beautiful features came gently shaped in her precious smile.

"I have a feeling that one day she'll come around and warm up to me." Her words came laced with a level of optimistic, unconditional warmth and innocence as she spoke.

And Yuki found himself in awe of his wife's ability to see the good in absolutely everyone. To trust that there _was_ , at least _some_ , good...in everyone. And if there was anyone in the entire world that could warm his mother's frozen heart...it was his Tohru.

...just like she had managed to open up and warm his once frozen soul...

She had saved him from the fate of becoming a cold and lifeless shell of himself, empty and hollow.

"I have an idea..." Yuki whispered to her, nuzzling into her hand as it moved to caress his cheek, his larger one coming to hold it in place as he gazed at her. "Let's stay in tonight."

"What about the reservations at the restaurant?" Tohru murmured this question with the slight furrow of her brows.

"We can order room service." Yuki countered.

"But the dress you bought me..." She whispered lightly as Yuki brushed a lock of hair to tuck it behind her ear. "I was kind of looking forward to wearing it for you." The look in her eyes the rare gaze that she only gave for him...only him, and a smile graced the corner of his lips.

"Well..." Yuki murmured, his fingertips gently trailing the length of her arm. "I'm finding that I like what you're wearing right now a _lot_ more than the dress I bought you." And Tohru came to gently rest her forehead along his, attempting to hide the blush and slight smile along her lips at this complement.

Yuki slowly rose from his knees, wrapping his arms around his wife's torso as he did so. This gentle movement sent them both to the bed as he came to suspend himself over her. Gazing at her, his fingers again tenderly brushed her bangs, and he whispered to her once more.

"So what do you say...?" This question came in full sincerity as he waited for her answer.

...whatever it was... He would be happy.

"Okay." She whispered up to him. "Let's stay in." And Tohru began to giggle as her husband's lips gently began their work of planting loving kisses along her neck and collarbone.

That night. In that room. There was so much love. An entire lifetime of love held in a single, precious moment.

That night...they drank much.

They ate much.

And they laughed much.

But...most of all...

They loved much.

And so very deeply.

In the lateness of the hour, Yuki found himself drifting content in sleep, entwined in his lover. Sleep, and dreaming, that was violently disturbed as thick lashed fluttered in weighted, heavy...almost oppressive exhaustion. There was so much noise. And it was so very loud. Someone was pounding on the door, and there was a loud voice through the other side. Yuki struggled to right himself through the fog of sleep. And everything moved too quickly as the door was suddenly forced open to flood the room with painfully abrasive light from the hallway.

And the sounds only intensified as they reverberated in his muddled mind. Voices far too hostel came authoritative and so very loud in their demand that he remove himself from the bed. But this dazed, almost frightened state left Yuki completely paralytic...unresponsive as he remained silent in the safety of the bed with his wife. This intrusion was far too violent and terrifying for him to move himself into action. Grasping onto his lover's hand, Yuki gave it a gentle squeeze of comforting strength. He knew she would need this from him. That he would need to be her rock now, though he barely came to hold himself together. Whatever this was...it was surely a terrible mistake. And he would stand firm and protect his wife as best he could.

As he held fast to her hand, Yuki felt himself forcefully ripped from the safety of the bed, his naked body coming so shamefully exposed as he was restrained to the ground. His arms were retched from his sides and painfully pulled together behind his back to be bound as a hand came to push his face further into the ground to subdue him.

Ragged, painful breaths came so very heavy and close to his ears as he heard a disembodied voice speak of resisting arrest and having the right to remain silent. And he did...remain silent. Though his thoughts were consumed with his terrified wife. He needed to see her. Needed to be able to comfort her now. Needed to know what was happening to her. What they were doing to her. These thoughts came all-consuming as he was finally lifted from the ground by his arms and brought to his knees.

And what he saw...

What his eyes bared witness to...

The absolute horror that lay in that bed...

Yuki's lips trembled in a moment of breathless silence before they were completely overcome by a scream. And he screamed, a guttural, savage scream that never ended.

* * *

 **A/N: I would just like to take this time to thank all of the readers and reviewers of this story. You guys are truly some of the most amazing people I know. And the fact that you continue to give me your time, love, and support...well...that is more precious than any gift. So...thank you.**

 **TohruKyoYuki**

 **Fandom Angst**

 **Kon13**

 **SweetLiars**


	3. Like Alice Tumbling Down The Rabbit Hole

_''Till we're stripped down to our skeletons again..._ _  
_ _'Till we're saints just swimmin' in our sins again...'_

"You can't make that move." This statement came stretched and strained over a more professional tone.

"Yes. I can." The response was cold and ruthless, like the move that had just been made.

"Like hell you can. Put it back." Irritation bubbled up, lacing this demand.

"No." Short, blunt, steady along the breath of a whisper cradled in smoke.

"But it's not a legitimate move!" This protest came almost angry, met with a silent, cold stare of disapproval.

"Says who...?" The question came in monotone with the raise of an eyebrow, followed by another casual drag of the cigarette poised between fingers.

"Says everyone who's ever played this stupid game." This declaration came hot on the tip of a festering temper.

"If you weren't prepared to lose...you really shouldn't have asked me to play, counselor." The voice came calm in this reprimand of the man's mounting frustration.

"I wouldn't have asked if I knew you were going to cheat!"

At this low hiss of a statement, both men fell into silence as the accused would not even deign to speak in his own defense against this latest complaint. But the silence between them spokes volumes. In the silence...both were calculating. Both scheming. Both out to win. Out for blood. For them...in this moment...this was more than some mere game. Cold, amethyst eyes drifted from the pieces in play to the man sitting across the sickening cafeteria table. Another drag from the cigarette before his lips parted in a veil of smoke.

"Your move, counselor." And Kyo's gaze narrowed on his client before his focus fell upon the game in examination.

In the breath of a solitary moment fingertips grasped the chess piece as Kyo moved the queen into play on the board. As the move came to its end Kyo gave an almost cocky smirk of confidence.

"Check." Kyo declared with certainty, only to be met with a sigh of disappointment and smoke as the man lightly shook his head in disapproval towards Kyo's move.

"You're too brash, counselor." This whisper came cold as the man placed the cigarette delicately between his lips in order to free his bound hands for his turn.

With meticulous scrutiny and swift calculation, the man fingered his bishop before sending it into motion along the board as it ruthlessly laid waste to his opponent's piece. Trading one piece for another, the man held up the captured prize as he gave it a moments consideration. Stealing the cigarette from his lips as it too came poised between his slender fingers the man let out a small, almost sad sigh of smoke as he contemplated the piece further.

"The queen is the most powerful piece in chess." His voice came so very hollow and distant in its musing as he held Kyo's forfeited chess piece. "Without her, the king is left completely defenseless and the game is lost." The man murmured before that empty, hollow gaze drifted from the chess piece to meet Kyo's stare once more. "You _never_ sacrifice your queen, counselor." And with these chilling words Kyo watched as the man shifted himself in his restraints to lean himself forward across the table, offering Kyo the stolen chess piece with a small smirk before leaning himself back in his seat with a look of satisfaction.

"And that makes check mate." He announced, drinking in the look of bemusement that shaped Kyo's features.

"What...?" Kyo questioned, his gaze flitting from the man's face to the board game as he saw that the man's bishop had put his king in jeopardy. "You can't _do_ that!" He protested loudly.

"What...?" The man deadpanned, his expression empty. "Win?" He asked bluntly, the small makings of a smirk along his lips as he snuffed out his spent cigarette in the astray on the table.

"But you were cheating the entire time!" Kyo's voice grew taut with agitation.

"No...I wasn't." Yuki's voice came smooth as his ice cold gaze matched these words in their intensity. "I was merely playing by a different set of rules." And at his client's bold statement Kyo's mouth went slightly slack.

"So you _did_ cheat?!" Kyo glared accusingly.

"Not exactly..." Yuki murmured lightly.

"And what in the hell is _that_ suppose to mean?" Kyo demanded.

"It means that you were just schooled in prison rules." The man offered as a small twitch of a smirk began to curl into the scarred hollows of his cheeks at Kyo's growing indignation.

"That's not fair!" Kyo growled, and the man's expression suddenly fell into nothingness as the amusement swiftly dissipated.

"Really...?" Yuki questioned seriously as silence enveloped the moment. "So I should have just let you win, then."

At this, Kyo's gaze drifted away from his client. The man was right. It would have been far more unbearably humiliating if he would have won the game simply because The Ice Prince had taken an amount of mercy on him. Though...Kyo would never admit this to the convicted felon sitting across the table from him. The man's open arrogance was bad enough without pandering to his well-made point.

"The world isn't a place for honorable men, counselor." This lightly murmured statement drew Kyo's attention from the game back to his client. "It's cold, brutal, and very rarely is it ever fair." Yuki's words came in a frigid monotone as he spoke. "In order to win...You need to be willing to bend the rules of the game." And the two fell back into a moment of silence as Kyo retrieved a cigarette for himself and offered the man across the table another.

"So..." Yuki spoke through a curl of smoke that came to veil his penetrating gaze. "...how are things progressing with the appeals process?" And Kyo gave a contemplative drag of his own cigarette to this question.

"Well..." This sigh came through a cloud of smoke as Kyo poised the cigarette between his lips to retrieve his wallet from the back pocked of his suit-pants. "...the prosecutor that handled your case is a real pain in the ass." And a small chuckle of amusement met this statement as Kyo dug through his wallet to find what he was looking for before fingertips slowly pushed the token gift across the table spanning the two men. "She _really_ didn't want you having this." Cold amethyst eyes met this gift with a strange...almost pained expression as slender fingers gathered up and rescued the Polaroid photograph from the vile lime green table.

"...I bet she didn't..." Yuki murmured lightly, his voice far off in distant memories before his gaze focused on Kyo once more. "Thank you, counselor." And Kyo gave a silent nod to his client's gratitude before the man became absorbed in the photo once again.

"She had been so excited to see New York." He whispered, gazing at the picture in his bound hands as the cigarette came poised between his fingers. "She just _loved_ those awful Broadway musicals. Always sang along with them...even though she couldn't hold a single note." And Kyo found himself listening dutifully as the man continued through his memories, though his voice seemed so strangely detached from the emotions that should have somehow been there. "But her cooking..." Yuki whispered this lightly. "Her cooking was something else entirely." He took a small pause for an awkward drag of his cigarette with bound wrists before he continued in a breath of smoke. "It's funny..." Yuki mused to himself as he drifted along his thoughts, gazing intently at the photo. "...on our very first date... I wanted to take her out to eat. I could have taken her absolutely _anywhere_ that she could have _possibly_ wanted to go. But she was so worried about being fussed over that she finally had me agreeing to her cooking us dinner instead." This statement came with the faintest smile along his scarred features as he continued with his story. "She was still in faculty housing at the time. A small, modest studio apartment. But in that tiny apartment, with the way the candles lit her face...I knew. This was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with." And that hollow gaze met Kyo as the man's attention was finally drawn away from the photograph in his hand.

"The prosecutor had the gall to tell the jury that my 'lack of emotion' over my wife's death was evidence of my guilt." Yuki spoke, his words cold and bitter as he held Kyo's stare, and Kyo gave a small nod to this well-known fact. "But tell me something, counselor." He murmured lowly through the kiss of his cigarette. "As a man..." His voice dropped to but a breath of a whisper through smoke. "...how do you _'feel'_ when your whole reason for existing is taken away from you." Yuki's hollow stare came unnerving in its fierce intensity. "How could you _possibly_ be expected to _'feel'_ when you lose your purpose..."

Kyo took a drag of his cigarette, choosing to remain silent. Because...the truth was...he was more intimately familiar with this sentiment than he cared to admit. Though he had been too young to fully understand and comprehend her actions at the time, Kyo himself had experienced this 'loss of purpose' when his mother had committed suicide. By jumping in font of a moving train.

"You look to be bothered by something, counselor." This lightly murmured statement drew Kyo from his thoughts as a small sigh of smoke came gently pushed through his nose.

"Yeah..." Kyo responded tautly, his gaze narrowing on his keenly aware client. "I _am_ bothered by something, actually. Now that you mention it." And this was met by the silent drag of a cigarette and breathless sigh of smoke in return.

"Really." Yuki's tone came flat through a curl of smoke. "Interested in sharing?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing..." Kyo's response came just as flat as he stared down his client, the cigarette poised gracefully between his fingers. "That photograph wasn't the only thing I managed to find." And the smallest flicker of a tell flashed behind empty amethyst eyes.

"...is that so...?"

"You really need to cut the crap." Kyo's words came blunt as he finally snuffed out his cigarette. "If you're really interested in being exonerated, you need to start being completely honest with me."

"And what makes you think that I _haven't_ been honest with you?" Yuki questioned through a veil of smoke, his expression coming lifelessly guarded.

"Because I found your prenuptial agreement."

Silence.

Kyo marveled at the sheer weight of it as he watched his client's gaze drift to the disgusting tabletop. Time seemed to stand at a still, held hostage in this moment as Kyo waited for a response. A reaction. Anything to indicate the significance of this discovery. Growing impatient with this man's silence, Kyo decided to press the matter further.

"And from what I read, your wife stood to gain over half of your assets in the event of a divorce...because she never actually _signed_ the papers." Kyo continued as the man before him stared blankly at the photograph he had requested. "It seems to me that her death was a pretty solid solution to a potential financial crisis. Who knows how quickly she would have left you for your money." He quipped harshly. "But what I _don't_ understand is how the prosecution could have _possibly_ missed this." Kyo stated before being interrupted by the lightest of whispers from across the table.

"You would find it simply _astounding_ what you can hide when your family owns their own lawyer." And Kyo's stomach violently lurched and churned with the gaze that slowly drifted to meet his own.

"And you still what me to believe that you didn't murder your wife...?" Kyo asked, attempting to mask the more troubling emotions threatening to cloud his judgment in this moment.

"Yes, I do." Yuki deadpanned. "Because I _didn't_ kill her."

"Then why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" Kyo retorted bitterly in the face of his client's deceitfulness.

"Because I honestly never thought that you would be able to find it." Yuki responded coolly through the final drag of his cigarette before snuffing it out. "Well done, counselor. I'm deeply impressed." And a small smile began to twist along his scarred features as he continued lowly. "If you're really this good, then I think that we might actually have a chance with my appeal." And a small, bitterly amused chuckle escaped the man as Kyo stood roughly from the table to dismiss himself, visibly irritated at having been so blatantly played by this pompous man.

"You want me to be honest with you, counselor?" Kyo heard this call, and begrudgingly halted his angered departure to glare at the man, only to be met with a calm and steady amethyst gaze. "If you want answers about the prenuptial agreement..." Yuki murmured, staring intently as he spoke. "...I suggest that you speak with my mother." And Kyo turned in silence, leaving the man to be unchained from the table and lead away as he wondered to himself exactly how far he was doing to fall down this dark rabbit hole.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you all again for such avid love and support of this story! Truly. I am continually humbled by you guys, and couldn't ask for a better audience than you. Much love to all of you! And I hope that you enjoyed this latest chapter, as the plot thickens!**

 **P.S. To SweeLiars, who wanted more Kyo...this chapter is for you**


	4. Childhood's End

_'I wanna throw my hands in the air and scream.'_

Heated footsteps made their way down the corridor, their pace determined and filled with anger and purpose. Murmurs and hushed whispers followed in their wake. Curious, wayward glances. Slender fingers balled themselves into tight fists, gaining the attention of the woman sitting at the receptionists desk.

"You can't go in there!" The secretary sputtered, startled by the man's sudden, hostile approach to the large, imposing office door. "They're in the middle of a shareholder's meeting!" She squeaked feebly as the man promptly disregarded this statement with a soul chilling glare as he stalked past her.

The fingers laced in tight fists aggressively wrapped themselves around the doorknob as the door came almost violently thrust open upon the meeting in progress.

"You _bitch_!" This snarled insult rent the air with such destructive force that the very room was absorbed and consumed by the young man's rage.

All eyes fell upon the young man. Expressions ranging from startled surprise, outrage, and indignation at how the young man had so vulgarly announced himself. All eyes were upon him in bewilderment. All eyes...except those of pale violet, reflecting the child's own. And that cold, frigid amethyst gaze met the child in measured restraint. Calm. Steady. Unperturbed by the young man's outburst and interruption of the meeting.

"Forgive the intrusion." A steady, calm, feminine voice murmured softly along the stifling silence in the wake of the child's boisterous arrival. "I think that a small break is in order." The woman stated, her tone authoritative as it gained the attention of the people gathered for the meeting. "We will reconvene and conclude this meeting after lunch." With little room for negotiation the woman watched with steely amethyst eyes as the people around her rose from their seats and slowly filed out of the room, dismissing themselves from the growing spectacle.

The door closed with the last person to leave, enveloping the two in a solitary moment of silence. The woman's amethyst eyes held the identical violet gaze of the young man, her features frigid and stern as she met his petulant expression. Attractive in her middle age, the woman held an air of sensual, feminine grace sharply contrasted with a cold, almost distant presentation with the way she held herself in her heels and trendy fitted business dress. The silence between them was held but for only a brief moment before it was all too quickly dispersed with more angry rhetoric.

"Did you _really_ think that I wouldn't find out?!" The young man practically screamed in outrage at the woman, her expression remaining stoic in response to his anger as she strode towards him wordlessly in her heels, her hand swiftly lashing out to strike him sharply across the cheek.

"Don't you _ever_ speak to me like that, Yuki." The woman chided, her tone low and frosty as the young man turned his face to her once more, their gaze meeting in a violent collision of hostility.

"I'm sorry, Mother." The young man's tone came snide and mocking in his apology. "Did I embarrass you in front of the board?"

"Those people are shareholders." The woman's voice came steady and measured in the face of her son's words, her cold gaze flitting to the light rouge dusting the pale cheek she had slapped. "They are some of the largest benefactors to this company, and we must work diligently to show them that their investment in our name is worth their valuable time and money." She chided. "Because _without_ them and their support, our financial standing would be put into serious jeopardy." Her lengthy scolding came met with a petulant stare as she continued. "You would do well to remember that before you decide to behave so poorly." And with these cold words, the child met her with an even colder, more frigid expression.

"That's really all you care about anymore, isn't it?" His voice dropped lifelessly empty from his lips. "You'd rather have me completely flawless. Cold. Lifeless. Empty." Each and every word came pointed and barbed as he continued to speak. "A hollow puppet to parade to those people you care so much about." A slender finger extended accusingly to the door the small group of people had fled through only moments before. "You want me to be _perfect_ for _them_ , instead of _happy_ for myself!" His voice came indigent, his beautifully eloquent features marred by the furrow of his brow.

"What on _earth_ are you going on about?" The woman's voice came just as indigent through her bemusement.

"I'm talking about the prenuptial agreement you drafted with Tadashi behind my back!" Yuki almost shouted, barely able to control his outrage at what his mother had orchestrated with the family's attorney, Akiyama Tadashi. "Why would you _do_ that to me?" He snarled, his voice pained and cracked. "To _her_!" The woman took in her son's pain with cold, measured temperance in a moment of silent consideration before her lips parted in answer to this harsh accusation.

"Because..." She murmured lowly, her words paced in moderation as she spoke. "...you insist on following through with this reckless decision to marry a woman you hardly know." Her cold amethyst gaze met her son with heat and intensity as she continued. "And as your mother I had to take certain measures to protect you. Protect this family."

"The prenuptial agreement stated that she gets _nothing_ if she leaves me! _Nothing_!" Yuki retorted angrily. "How is _that_ in the best interest of this family?!"

"We have a reputation to uphold in this community." The woman spoke in a measured lilt. "You _know_ this." She chided lightly. "Better than anyone else. Something that your free-spirited brother never seemed to appreciate like you and I do." And Yuki's gaze momentarily drifted to the floor in silent submission.

"You have responsibilities, Yuki. You have an obligation to this company. To our family." The woman murmured, drawing Yuki's eyes from the floor as he gazed upon her. "And every action you take upon yourself _directly_ affects the future of this company and this family." A small sigh of contemplation towards her son's despondent gaze pushed itself through her dainty, delicate nose before she continued. "Since you clearly won't be moved to reason and reconsider marrying this woman of yours, I felt it necessary to ensure that she could do us as little harm as possible."

"How can you say such things...?" Yuki murmured, his voice but a breath of a whisper to his mother's heartless words. "How can you be so cold...?"

"Because this woman doesn't _love_ you, Yuki!" The woman chided roughly, her calmer, more professional exterior coming slightly ruffled and exasperated.

"You can't _say_ that!" Yuki screamed against this accusation, his hands thrown recklessly in his frustration. "You don't even _know_ her!"

"Neither do _you_!" The woman practically screamed back in retaliation.

"I know her better than you can imagine, Mother." This emboldened statement came harshly snapped from Yuki's lips, forcing his mother into silence. "And I love her so intensely that I won't keep a single _piece_ of myself from her." And a small, bitter smile managed to twitch along the ice of his frozen features as he spoke. "All that I have. All that I am _will_ be hers. And there's _nothing_ you can do about it."

"I could relieve you of your position and authority at this company." The woman responded, her bitter words meeting his bitter smirk of a smile.

"You could." Yuki conceded frostily. "But you and I both know that you won't."

The two stood in weighted silence for a breathless moment. Neither one speaking. Neither one breathing another word. Both knowing that the course of their future together would be irrevocably changed. Forever. And both settled themselves with this single, shattering truth, in their own way.

"There's a 'risks analysis' meeting tomorrow at nine." The woman finally murmured, her cold tone breaking the frigid silence. "I expect you will be there." And with this Yuki gave a swift, curt nod of the head.

"Of course, Mother." Yuki murmured, his tone just as frigidly cold as the woman turned her back to make her way out of the room. "And _I_ expect that when you show up for my wedding, that you will greet my bride with the respect she deserves." And with the closing of the door Yuki was enveloped in silence as he moved towards the window to gaze at the bustling city below.

The quiet wrapped itself around him like a thin veil, lingering along his senses as time stood at a momentary still. So many times he had stood at this very window, or ones just like it. Filled with a sense of empty nothingness as he watched the lives of others unfold below him, finding that he would give away everything for a simple taste of what that must feel like.

Life.

Today. Standing at this very window. In this very office. He'd had that taste. That breath of life. And in his silence, Yuki savored how sweet it truly was.

Life.

And he breathed deeply in eager anticipation that this was merely the beginning of his journey. But before he could fully delve into the plans he had made for his own life, the opening of the door gently dispersed the silence, lifting the veil as Yuki gave a small sigh of disappointment.

"Your mother told me to come and counsel you." The deep voice resonated softly in the space as another, bitter smile played along Yuki's lips.

"Of course she did..." Yuki muttered as he sensed the figure come to stand beside him at the window. "I'm angry at you too, you know." And a small sigh of response manifested from beside him.

"I know."

"What was she thinking, Tadashi?" Yuki murmured, his voice gaining a soft sadness as his brows furrowed. "When she had you write up that document."

"You may not want to believe this, child..." The man's voice came deep, wise, and strangely paternal as he spoke to Yuki. "...but she asked that of me as a favor because she cares about you. And she's worried."

"Yeah, well she has a strange way of showing it." Yuki muttered, causing the man beside him to chuckle lightly in amusement before stillness settled comfortably along the moment.

"Perhaps she does." The man conceded tenderly after a moment of thought. "But I have to be honest with you child, your mother has reason to be concerned." His voice came a deep rumble. "I have studied the law for a very long time. Statistically speaking, marriages where the partners have glaringly different financial standing usually end. And they end very badly." A small sigh pushed through his nose as he continued, both men gazing upon the city below. "Your mother came to me asking for my legal counsel, and I told her what I'm telling you."

"But Tohru's not like that, Tadashi." Yuki murmured lightly, his amethyst gaze deviating from the window to spare the man a side glance. "When she looks at me..." His voice grew softer, a small, genuine smile playing at the corner of his lips as he spoke of her. "... _really_ looks at me... I can _feel_ it. She doesn't see my name. She doesn't see my money." Amethyst eyes flitted back to the world beneath him as Yuki continued. "When Tohru looks at me, she sees _me_. Just me. And I suddenly feel so very alive."

"Even if things _were_ to end badly between us, Tadashi." Yuki murmured, finally turning his full gaze to the man next to him. "I would give her anything she would want." His gaze met these words in their intensity as he spoke. "Anything."

"I see." The man murmured, his expression one of fatherly concern. "I've worked for, and represented your family for so very long." He mused, his tone low and wise as Yuki listened intently. "Since before you were born, child." These words came tenderly as the two gazed upon each other in a moment of understanding. "And with the passing of your father, I can't imagine a better man coming to fill his place in your life..." His voice came measured like the swing of a pendulum as he spoke. "But, I have come to think of you very much like my own son."

"I know, Tadashi..." Yuki murmured, a tender softness caressing his words. "Don't tell Mother this..." His voice grew a little lower as he gave the man a swift side-glance. "...but I've been giving some serious consideration into relinquishing my place in this company in order to peruse a career in law." He spoke, gaining the man's wise gaze. "In part, due to you." And at this the man offered a soft, deep rumble of low laughter.

"You don't want to do that, child." He spoke with a warm smile to the young man. "You'll just end up an old fart like me. You can do better with your life."

"But that's the _point_." Yuki's tone came distant as he spoke, the world below calling to him once more. "My life here...at this company...right now... It's _so_ empty. Every single thing is determined and chosen for me, and I feel like I can't _breathe_." An almost dismal expression crossed his features as he continued to gaze at the city beneath him as he spoke. "I won't remain passive as the events that affect me unfold to determine the course of my life, Tadashi." He whispered lightly. "I can't. Not anymore."

"Is that why you're so adamant about marrying this woman?" The man asked lightly in the quiet of the moment. "An act of rebellion towards this life of yours?" And the small shake of Yuki's head followed this question before words parted his lips.

"You know me better than that, Tadashi." Yuki murmured softly.

"I suppose I do." The man conceded with a small nod. "And if you won't see wisdom in my legal counsel..." The man's voice grew low, that same concerned expression lingering along his aged features. "Then I would hope that you would at least heed my words as your friend." His expression grew grim with the seriousness of his words as he continued. "Have your fiance sign the agreement. If she loves you as much as you say, then she will do as you ask of her, hm?" And at these words Yuki's expression grew indignant.

"I can't do that, Tadashi." Yuki growled lowly. "I won't." His voice grew with this conviction. "And Tohru can't know about this, do you understand?" These words came all consuming in their intensity. "Make this go away, Tadashi."

"You're mother won't be pleased about this." The man sighed in resignation to this demand.

"You let me worry about that." Yuki countered with the faintest of smiles, a smile that was returned as the man saw himself out, leaving Yuki to his thoughts once more.

* * *

 **A/N: Guess who's back. Back again. Queenie's back. Tell a friend.**

 **Thank you all to those still supporting this strange little story, despite the long delays! I sincerely hope you all enjoyed this, and I wish you all a most blessed Christmas and happy new year!**


	5. The Okinawan

_'Keep making trouble 'till you find what you love'  
_

Deep, sharp gasps ravaged his lungs, lining them in flames as the fabric of his white sleeveless undershirt clung uncomfortably to his damp, hot, sticky skin. His grip felt weak under the strain of his own weight, and a dangerous tremor had begun to run itself along the length of his forearms as it threatened to slow his pace.

Yet that ever present herald through the exterior courtyard pushed him ever forward past the excruciating pain and muscle fatigue.

"Twenty eight!"

He pulled himself up to the rhythm of this call.

"Twenty nine!"

The voice an anchor as his arms flexed and strained to lift the weight of his suspended frame.

"Thirty!"

A sudden surge of adrenaline caused his muscles to warm and loosen, new-found determination motivating him as he spared a side glance to his opponent.

"Thirty one!"

He wasn't going to lose.

An ever increasing sea of orange jump suits slowly gathered to this spectacle, the audience of watchful eyes only solidifying this burning desire for victory as he continued to force his arms to comply with the ever growing physical demand. The voice keeping tally fading in and out of his awareness under the sounds of his own labored breath and erratic heartbeat as it slammed against his chest, deafening his ears.

"Thirty five!"

Steadying and strengthening his grip along the metal bar suspended high above the ground with the upward thrust of his body, he could make out the subtle murmurs of curious admiration. Just barely...underneath his strained gasps and the subtle grunts of his challenger before another sound all together took him quite by surprise.

"What are you _doing_?!" A familiar voice spat this harsh chastisement, coming cold and forced as it gained several eyes and the attention of the crowd, causing a few of the spectators to snigger.

"What does..." Kyo huffed in rhythm as he continued to pull himself up past the metal bar. "...it _look_ like...?" This breathy response came hot on the heels of a disgruntled scowl towards his client as he persisted in this impromptu 'pull-up' competition.

Cold amethyst eyes burned with anger and irritation towards his legal counsel, though the man's frigid expression remained stoic and unmoved by this underlying hostility. Crossing his arms along his chest in a show of blatant disapproval, Yuki silently observed this spectacle between his lawyer and a fellow inmate. Through the hum of light murmurs and the high shout of the tally, a darker voice manifested beside him in a low lull.

"Yuki." This simple greeting drew Yuki's attention away from the lively competition as his cold amethyst gaze drifted towards the man now standing beside him.

The lean, muscular figure stood almost an inch taller, though that small difference between them would have hardly mattered. The two seemed so eerily similar in their appearance that, had one simply looked upon them for a brief moment in passing, it would have been difficult to tell them apart. The man's attire was one of the basic orange uniforms with dull, flat laceless loafers provided by the prison; though his muscular torso came clad in a white, skin tight sleeveless shirt that seemed to almost possessively cling to his body. This allowed the man to showcase the intricate script and complex bands that encircled and wrapped around his right bicep. Dark, inky black hair came strangely disheveled in an almost purposefully haphazard fashion.

But what truly set him apart in the sea of orange suits and black hair, were his eyes. Unlike the frigid amethyst stare of his silent counterpart, which had long grown cold and quite lifeless, this man's own obsidian gaze burned with fierce, ruthless intensity. Like thick, black oil that had been set in flames.

"Akito." Yuki returned this greeting in flat monotone, the small smirk of a smile lifting along the man's lips as his dark gaze returned to the growing spectacle.

"He with you?" Akito questioned, his voice falling deep in a strange drawl as his ever watchful gaze cast itself upon the man in question.

"Yeah." Yuki muttered bitterly, reluctantly admitting this as he coldly stared at Kyo's display of physical prowess.

"You know what they say..." Akito mused sardonically, his accent thick with the slight tilt of his head to the scene before him. "...lawyers... You can't take them anywhere." And Yuki gave a resounding groan of irritation before raising his voice.

"Get _down_ from there!" Yuki demanded, gaining Kyo's attention once more.

"Why?!" Kyo panted out in response. "Am I..." He huffed with the effort of pulling himself up as his arms threatened to succumb to fatigue. "...embarrassing you...?!" This breathless shout came as petulant as his fervent gaze.

"No." Yuki quipped loudly, his expression hardened under his growing aggravation. "You're just embarrassing yourself, counselor."

"I don't know..." Akito murmured passively. "He's not doing _that_ badly." He offered before raising his hands to his mouth to cup them as an amplifier for his voice.

"Don't listen to him!" Akito hollered through his hands in encouragement to Kyo's efforts. "You're doing great!" He goaded, earning a cold glare from the man next to him.

"Hatsuharu!" Akito bellowed loudly to his fellow inmate and Kyo's opponent as the strange man with even stranger hair grimaced with the effort of this contest.

"What?!" The strange, white-haired man practically snarled, fueled by sheer adrenaline.

"You're chinning like a Jap!" He hurled this cultural slur in that thick drawl, the blatant insult to the man's abilities and heritage causing laughter from a few of the other inmates.

"Fourty six!" The tally came shouted as Kyo finally lost his grip, plummeting to the ground as he landed crouched in on himself for desperately needed air and rest.

"Hey Akito!" Haru roared in his triumph as he forcefully pushed forward with his count, only to release the bar with his left hand in order to flip off the man who had insulted him while persisting in several one-handed pull-ups.

Boisterous laughter and whistles of approval erupted from the crowd as Akito himself gave a resounding howl of amusement. The man finally released himself from the high-rise bar to land heavy on his feet before slowly stalking over to Kyo. His expression was completely unreadable as his steely gaze took in the lawyer, scrutinizing him in a moment of silent consideration before extending his hand in an offering of comradery.

"That was pretty impressive." He deadpanned smoothly as Kyo accepted his hand in a stiff handshake.

"You went easy on me." Kyo countered, the wry spread of a soft smirk shaping the man's otherwise stoic expression.

"Only a little." The man offered with a slight shrug. "When you come back around here, I'll accept a rematch." Kyo gave a small smile and nod of concession to this offer as the man turned on his heels and made his way through the crowd, accepting cheers and praise from his peers as he passed Akito by, sharing an intricate handshake and swift embrace with the man before he disappeared all together.

"Counselor." This strained call drew Kyo's attention from his adversary.

"Sohma-san." Kyo answered coolly, turning towards his increasingly disgruntled client.

"What exactly are you doing?" Yuki questioned harshly.

"I was tired of staring at that green table and thought a change of scenery would be nice." Kyo quipped, holding the man's frigid stare. "So I came to find you."

"It that _really_ the best idea?" Yuki asked lowly in a frustrated hiss of disapproval to this brash plan of action.

"As your legal representative, I'm allowed access to you at all times." Kyo countered with a subtle smirk. "Or did you forget that part of my contract?"

"Well well..." The two were interrupted by a thick voice and deep onyx gaze. "...you're quite the attorney." Akito murmured with a wicked grin as his eyes roamed over Kyo's body. "Not half bad for a lawyer _or_ a Jap." And Kyo's expression furrowed towards this heavy-handed insult.

"You know..." Kyo murmured lowly, holding the man's intense stare. "I'm not fanatically patriotic myself, but it seems counterproductive to insult your own ethnic heritage." This chastisement caused the man to openly laugh as Kyo took notice of the ever grim expression on his clients face over this conversation.

"Oh...I'm not Japanese." The man coolly corrected with the smirk of a smile. "I'm Okinawan." And Kyo's perplexed furrow only deepened in bemused curiosity towards this almost infinitesimal distinction.

"Is there really a difference between the two...?" Kyo questioned dubiously with the high arch of his brow and the little cultural knowledge he possessed.

"There is if you're Okinawan..." The man offered with a wry, almost pompous smile.

"Right." Kyo scoffed towards the man's highbrow theatrics. "Thanks for the cultural lesson." His tone came dismissive as the man gave himself over to another bout of cynical laughter.

"That's the problem with _you people_." Akito sneered in disgust, the intensity of his fierce gaze landing full force upon the counselor. "You're so completely convinced of your knowledge and superiority that you continually fail to learn history's life lessons." His tone grew heavy under his broad accent as he continued in his lofty speech. "Tell me, Law Man." He scoffed. "What exactly _is_ it that your government funded universities are teaching you these days, hm?" Akito quipped sardonically, his tone growing increasingly scornful as he reveled in a new audience to vent his frustration. "I guarantee that in all your years of studying the law, you've never even _heard_ of The Ryukyu Independence Movement, _have_ you, Law Man?"

"No." Kyo quipped, his response harsh and honest as he went on the defensive. "But as you so blatantly pointed out...I went to University to study _law_. _Not_ history."

"Why exactly _did_ you go into the study of law, then, hm?" Akito countered roughly. "Was it out of some misguided sense of justice?" His dark obsidian gaze narrowed upon his unsuspecting audience, refusing to pause for a response he cared nothing for. "You're ignorance is absolutely _astounding_!" He hissed in absolute contempt, causing Kyo's expression to fall in a scowl of veiled rage towards this prisoner's heated scolding. "So since you have _no_ concept of actual history, allow me to enlighten you." Akito's tone grew darker and more ominous through his thick accent as he persisted in this unsolicited history lesson.

"During the Battle of Okinawa, Japanese soldiers committed multiple atrocities and war crimes against Okinawan civilians, including rape _and_ murder, using them as human shields, and forcing them to commit suicide." He quipped harshly, drinking in the mild level of shock playing along Kyo's features. "You didn't know _that_ , now _did_ you, Law Man." Akito spat, pushing through dismissively with a wave of his hand in refusal to allow a response. "Of _course_ you didn't. How _could_ you?" His tone came completely demeaning as his rising hostility towards Kyo began to gain the attention of the attending guards in the open courtyard. "Because in 2007, the Ministry of Education forced the universities to revise school textbooks to downplay these unspeakable atrocities." Akito unfolded his arms along his board chest to point an accusatory finger towards Kyo. " _You're_ government attempted to hide _your_ peoples sins! And it's people like _you_ who defend their actions." He shouted. "But _I_ fought against the Ministry to try and force their hand when they wanted to altar _history_ to bury what the Japanese government has done for _years_ to brutalize and take advantage of the most vulnerable minorities. _I_ sought justice for _my_ people." Akito's words came fueled by his fervent conviction before his voice came in an almost twisted snarl of hatred. "Tell me, Law Man." He spat. "Where's _your_ sense of justice?!" And he took a few menacing steps forward before another sharp voice shouted from further off.

"That's enough, Akito." One of the armed guards warned, causing Akito to raise his hands in submission and take a step back.

"I guess that's the end of my history lesson." Akito murmured with a throaty chuckle towards Kyo's defensive stance before he brought his arms down, casting his gaze towards his silent counterpart. "Yuki." He offered this smooth farewell with the slight nod of his head towards the infamous Ice Prince. "See you around, Law Man." Akito's gaze drifted towards Kyo before he quickly turned away in the opposite direction, leaving the two alone in the wake of his impassioned tirade.

"Who the hell _was_ that?" Kyo murmured lowly to the man standing beside him as Akito finally disappeared back inside the compound.

"Akito." Yuki deadpanned, his voice cold and lifeless in response. "Political terrorist. He's personally responsible for a Kyoto university bombing that resulted in the deaths of 68 students and 7 teachers." He mused in a moment of consideration before he continued. "Though I'm sure he likes to think of himself more as an activist." And as Yuki turned his head their gaze met, and he murmured lightly to his attorney. "But... in another life all together...he use to be a professor." Kyo absorbed this sobering information for a moment as the two fell into silence.

"You came all this way to see me, counselor." Yuki broke the silence with his hollow voice. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" He murmured as they moved themselves to one of the courtyard benches while Kyo gathered the business jacket and button down shirt he had abandoned for the earlier competition. "I assume it's not purely recreational." His tone came mildly sardonic towards Kyo's less than professional competition with an inmate.

As the two sat opposite each other, Kyo found himself instinctively sifting through the pocket of his jacket for the pack of cigarettes and lighter he always kept on hand. Gathering one for himself, Kyo then offered one to his client, working to avoid staring at the disturbingly prominent scars along Yuki's wrists as they indulged in this habitual routine of theirs. And it seemed so strange to see his client without restraints, though there was no shortage of security for his personal protection during this visit. As Kyo watched the man take a drag of his cigarette, thick lashes fluttered under the sudden, welcomed nicotine rush before Yuki sighed in contentment through a veil of smoke.

"It's about your sealed prenuptial agreement." Kyo breathed a veil of smoke through his nose as he watched the man's expression grow frigid, that cold amethyst gaze drifting to the ground below him as Yuki took another silent drag of his cigarette.

"So you've spoken with my mother, then...?" He asked, his words lacking warmth towards this question about the woman who had raised him.

"That's just it." Kyo murmured quietly with the slight shake of his head. "Every time I've tried to talk to her, I keep getting stone walled by her lawyer who refuses to allow me access to her for questioning." And a strange, almost infinitesimal wave of emotions played themselves along features of ice and stone.

"Tadashi..." This breathless whisper parted dry lips as Kyo gave a silent nod.

"Akiyama-san's dead set against allowing me to question your mother." Kyo murmured through another drag of his cigarette. "He's more of a pain in the ass than the processor that oversaw your trial." He mused, more to himself than the man before him. "It looks like I'm going to have to file an injunction with the courts if I want to get anywhere with this."

"That won't work." Yuki responded coolly with the light shake of his head. "Tadashi will figure out a way to fight that." And a resounding snort of amusement towards this statement manifested through a puff of smoke.

"I'd like to see him try."

* * *

 **A/N: This latest chapter comes complements of a lot of research and thanks to Wikipedia. I tried to do as much justice to Japanese history as possible in regards to** **The Ryukyu Independence Movement, I imagine that I probably didn't get every single fact right** **. That being said, I sincerely hope that you all enjoy this chapter and the introduction of some fresh characters! Also...my deepest apologies for the racial slurs. I mean no offense.**

 **And as always, special thanks and my deepest gratitude to those who have continued to support this story. SweetLiars, thank you for the prompting of this latest chapter. Your enthusiasm truly inspired this latest updated.**


	6. Betrayal

_'I don't want to remember it all'_

Keys.

Watch.

Phone.

Loose change.

All were dispersed into a plastic bin and handed over to waiting hands for safe keeping in order for the man to make way through the metal detector. Expensive, designer black leather shoes slowly made their way down the corridor as voices and people grew faint and further away before finally dying into eerie quiet.

 _None_ had dared follow where he tread for fear of violating attorney-client privilege. Because he had made it _painfully_ clear that there would be severe ramifications and consequences for such a breach of confidentiality. In making these threats, he had masterfully wielded his terrifying legal expertise in such a way that made it impossible to argue. And if that _hadn't_ worked in quieting any form of dissent, which it had, all he would have needed to have done was simply _utter_ the name of his employer.

Though he preferred to utilize that name only as a last resort.

Finally arriving in the more secluded, private area of the visitation room, his somber gaze immediately met the young man dressed in a stylishly tailored suit. Though the fashionable attire came horribly marred by the chains as the child was barricaded behind four walls and plexy glass, an unspeakably dismal expression etched along his boyish features. A sigh of remorse loosed itself from lip drawn in a taut line as the man finally claimed the stool on the friendlier side of the glass as his hand went for the provided phone. And he watched as the young man awkwardly scooped up the other end through his restraints, almost greedily as one grasping for a lifeline as the man's ear bore witness to the almost fragile, muffled hiss from the child's lips.

"...Tadashi..." This hushed whisper came softly to assault the man's ear. "...what in the _hell_ is going on out there...?!" Lips trembled along this baffled question, causing the man's withered brow to furrow as he held that forlorn amethyst gaze. "We're getting completely _decimated_." And Tadashi's head hung slightly with the weight of this statement as his free hand found its way to the back of his neck in contemplation.

Weathered features quickly flitted along the painful memories of this particularly brutal session of court. Though the prosecution had opened with a strong case against the young man to begin with...today's attack had been especially savage.

The prosecution was ruthless...and...he was losing this case. He could feel it. And he knew that the young man was bright enough to sense this too.

"The evidence they have against you is more damning than I first anticipated." He heard himself murmur almost dishearteningly through the phone to his client.

The child Tadashi had watched grow from a boy into a man.

...the child he felt like he had raised himself...when Yuki's father had passed away...

"But it's all circumstantial." Tadashi heard the young man whimper, his amethyst gaze imploring Tadashi from the other side of the plexy glass. "You said that yourself."

"I know." Tadashi conceded as his eyes met the child's face once more. "And it is." He assured Yuki through his end of the phone. "But I'm concerned that it might just be enough to sway twelve people...if they are moved to feel angry enough."

" _Tell_ me you have a plan, Tadashi." Yuki's voice quavered between fear and frustration as he fiercely held the man's gaze. "Tell me that you can _fix_ this. Make it go away." And a small, muffled sigh met Yuki's ear through a brief pause of oppressive silence.

"Not this time, child." Tadashi murmured sadly, absorbing the way Yuki's features crumpled with this response to his plea for help. "There are some things I can't fix. That I _can't_ make go away." He whispered lightly into the receiver as he held that forlorn gaze along the other side of the plexy glass. "...no matter how badly I want to..."

"...you think I did it..."

This statement came so hollow. So empty. So terrifyingly devoid of life and all hope that it momentarily set Tadashi aback. Slowly regaining himself with the light shake of his head and a faint smile to the young man, Tadashi finally recovered from the blow of this accusation.

"No, child." He replied comfortingly, his voice low and soothing like the gentle swing of a pendulum. "I _know_ that you didn't do this." The man's wise voice rumbled with the strength of this conviction as he held Yuki's gaze. "But then..." He murmured quietly. "...I've never been the one you've needed to convince." And amethyst eyes drifted away as Yuki took a moment to consider this fact.

"...I know, Tadashi..." This weak concession came in a breathless whisper through pale, bloodless lips. "...I know..."

"I have to admit, though..." Tadashi's gentle voice called that dismal, bleak gaze back towards his face. "...I'm having a hard time understanding exactly what happened." The perplexity in the man's tone caused the deep furrowing of boyish features.

"I already told you..." Yuki whimpered lightly through the receiver. "I don't know."

"How can you not know what happened, child?" The man questioned with the baffled shake of his head.

"...I don't know..." Yuki whispered again through a small, fragile...muffled hiss.

"I sat with you and had to see those photos." Tadashi murmured lowly. "I saw what was in that room..." His voice wavered along these words and the dark, terrible thoughts attached to them before he locked eyes with the young man behind the plexy glass. "...how...? How could you _not_ know...?"

"I don't know, Tadashi." Yuki muttered tautly with the dismayed shake of his head, his voice growing hardened and cold with the mention of the grotesquely displayed crime scene photos they had been forced to look at in the court room mere hours before.

"You were found in bed with her, child." Tadashi persisted grimly through a low rumble as he witnessed the smallest tremor of emotion work its way through Yuki's free hand. "I don't understand. How could you be in the same bed with her and _not_ know?"

"I told you!" Yuki snarled violently into the phone, the vibrations of his anger coming through the very glass that separated them as he continued to yell at the man. "I! Don't! Know!" Each word accentuated and punctuated by his rage as he held Tadashi's gaze before his expression of outrage faltered and finally crumbled.

"...I _can't remember_..."

This fragile whisper came so heart-wrenching as it was pulled from Yuki's quivering lips. And Tadashi absorbed the anguish and pain of this with a tender, placid expression, and a small empathetic nod of understanding before Yuki's lips moved once more. His small, fragile voice manifesting through the receiver as Tadashi listened.

"We had been out shopping _all_ day." Yuki whispered through the phone, starting in on a statement Tadashi was all too familiar with.

...the same one he had been told before...

"We went back to the hotel room to drop off the gifts and souvenirs." His lower lip trembled as he spoke, his gaze drifting to the side as he relived each moment of that fateful day. "We were going to go out to eat. I had made reservation..." These words came whispered softly through the receiver. "I had even bought her a dress for the occasion." He breathed. "And she had been _so_ excited to wear it. But..." Thick lashes fluttered as he continued. "...then I told her I had changed my mind and wanted to stay in with her for the evening instead." His expression shifted in a brief moment of anguish under the weight of this decision and the guilt attached to it. "...why didn't I just take her out to dinner...?" Yuki asked himself as the man on the other side of the plexy glass remained silent to this pained question.

The weighted quiet of this moment lingered and spread its tendrils over the young man suffering in silence. His whole body now hunched and twisted under pain laced in grief and sorrow as his eyes stung with unshed tears. Tears repressed and too tightly bound in agony to surface and make themselves known. Without thought to the man gazing upon him, thick lashes fluttered closed against the torment of a single cherished memory.

Gentle touches. Breathless sighs growing upon themselves into soft moans that came captured and intertwined along sweet kisses. Warmth. Sounds. Sensations. Tender caresses filled with _so_ much affection in a wondrous, wholly perfect giving and receiving of love. So much goodness in one single, beautiful moment that had made him feel so fully alive. So complete. Unconsciously biting his lower lip with the thought of this treasured memory before lashes fluttered open and that dismal, cold amethyst gaze resurfaced.

"We made love." He murmured lowly, just above a whisper through the phone. "Then I ordered us room service." Yuki's voice grew more distantly cold...almost terrifyingly empty and hollow as he continued to recount the evening's events. "We ate. We drank. And I remember that I had started to fall asleep watching one her favorite shows."

His brow lightly furrowed at the memory of having been so tired. So very tired. But...it had been such a long day. And the two of them had done so much together.

"...then I woke up..."

This statement came so profound, holding all the weight and agony of what Yuki had been through. What he had witnessed. And what he was yet to endure.

"But I _swear_...that's _all_ that I remember, Tadashi." Yuki uttered this with such heat and conviction, practically begging the man to believe him. "I _don't_ _know_ what happened."

"I believe you." Tadashi assured through the grim, taut line of his lips. "But _they_ won't"

"You think I don't know that?" Yuki retorted bitterly through the phone. "You think I don't know how _bad_ this looks?" He hissed. "I'm _not stupid_ , Tadashi." Yuki spat angrily, his cold glare burrowing right into the heart of the man on the other side of the plexy glass. "I know _exactly_ how this looks. I _know_ what they're all thinking."

"And that's not even the worst part of this." He laughed.

A sharp snort of laughter that came so bitterly sarcastic and self deprecating in its sheer lack of warmth before his tone died into a cold whisper as he continued to speak.

"The worst part..." Yuki murmured in frigged monotone through the receiver. "The worst part _isn't_ that everyone believes I did this. That I actually killed her." His voice came so lifeless as he spoke these words. "The whole _world_ could think I killed her...and it wouldn't matter to me." He stated bluntly, his tone gaining a hard edge. "The absolute _worst_ part..." Yuki's boyish features shifted ever so slightly in masked anguish. "What's _killing_ me..." Lashes fluttered against the pain of his words and all of the thoughts attached to them. "...is that she's gone. That she's really _gone_." Yuki hung his head with the weight and finality of this statement.

"I could endure this. _All_ of it." He breathed through the phone in a weak, fragile whisper. "The media circus. The accusations." Yuki gave pause, his face still hidden and veiled through the hanging of his head. "...the photos..." He murmured, so lowly that...for a moment...Tatashi wasn't sure if he had spoken at all until Yuki finally raised his head, that hollow amethyst gaze meeting Tadashi once more. "I could go right though _hell_ and back, and be just _fine_..." His lip quivered along these words as he continued to speak in haunted monotone. "...if she where just _here_ with me right now."

And for the fraction of a moment. The breath of a heartbeat. Tadashi witnessed the young man's cold and hardened facade melt and crumble away into such heartbreaking fragility. And for that single moment Tadashi almost faltered in his stare, finding it difficult to bear the weight of Yuki's grief and sorrow.

"I miss her, Tadashi. Heaven help me, I _miss_ her. And I need her." Yuki's expression furrowed against this aching need as his gaze grew as lifelessly empty as his voice. "I'm not going to make it through this without her..."

"I'm here for you, child." Tadashi's voice rumbled deeply through the phone in almost paternal consolation. "Anything you need." And this came met with a small nod of appreciation and brief pause of silence before Yuki responded quietly.

"Have you spoken with her family...?" He asked lowly. "...about their plans...?" And Tadashi gave a grim nod to Yuki's delicately posed, guarded question.

"I did." Tadashi admitted.

"...and..." Yuki murmured with the furrow of his brow, his stare held captivated along the man's features.

"Her aunt and cousins will be holding a small ceremony for her this Saturday after the body is cremated." And Yuki couldn't help the falter in his expression at the mere mention of his wife's estranged family.

"Cremated?" His scowl deepened disapprovingly in response to this news. "She deserves a proper burial, Tadashi." He murmured. "To be placed where her loved ones will be able to burn incense. Pray for her soul." His voice diminished to a low hiss as he shook his head in dismay. "Cremation is wrong." Amethyst eyes flitted away before meeting weathered features once more. "What about Saki and Arisa? Did anyone talk to _them_ about this?" Yuki questioned, the names of his wife's dear friends lingering along his tongue. "They're like sisters to her. They'll need a place to mourn. A place where they can come to visit her. Pay their respects." He spoke in decisive determination. "Please, Tadashi." Yuki implored. "Help me do something about this. Tell them to wait." He pleaded with with the man, his voice gaining a level of desperation. "Tell them if money's the issue I'll gladly pay for the burial. Please..." And Yuki absorbed the forlorn shake of Tadashi's head before the man murmured into the receiver.

"They were very adamant about their plans when I spoke to them, child." His deep voice rumbled through the phone, followed by another brief pause of silence.

"Do you think that the judge will allow me dispensation to attend the service?" This question wavered so vicariously along the fragile tendrils of hope before it was devastatingly obliterate with the small shake of Tadashi's head.

"Not when we've just begun the trial process." Tadashi murmured quietly as he bared witness to the pain etched along Yuki's boyish features before the child looked away. "I'm sorry."

"I understand." Yuki breathed through the phone, his words falling defeated from his lips. "Thank you, Tadashi." And the man gave a small nod to Yuki's gratitude before his wise, paternal expression fell solemn with the seriousness of the mounting situation.

"There's another matter I came here to speak with you about." Tadashi's grave words came guarded and muffled through the receiver.

"Come on, Tadashi." Yuki deadpanned through a caustic smirk and small quirk of his eyebrow. "Whatever it is, it can't be all _that_ bad." He tried for some small amount of levity at his own expense as he indicated the handcuffs loosely binding his wrists before fully absorbing the gravity of Tadashi's weathered features.

"Tadashi...?" This low whisper came muffled and laced in concern. "Just come out and say it." Yuki was struck and unnerved by the severity of Tadashi's expression. "Tell me." This cold prompt came met with a disembodied sigh before the man's lips were parted in sobering words.

"Your mother was called into a closed door meeting with the company's shareholders..." This statement fell flatly from Tadashi's lips as he held the young man's befuddled gaze.

"...what...?" This whispered breath came so low and taken aback, as if the blow of this news had physically knocked the air from Yuki's lungs. "Why?" Yuki muttered in a deep, bitter hiss, evidence of irked confusion written along his features.

"They wanted to express their... _concerns_...to the head of the company." Tadashi uttered grimly, words faltering along his tongue as he attempted to navigate this unseemly conversation. "They're worried about the negative impact of this trial on their investments." He avoided Yuki's direct gaze as amethyst eyes hardened and filled with contempt. "They don't want their stocks and shares in the Sohma Company to be ruined and sullied over this scandal." Tadashi shook his head, eyes downcast in a show of veiled disgust. "They've legally petitioned your mother to remove Sohma involvement in this trial."

"But they can't _do_ that!" Yuki hissed angrily, fear briefly flashing along his face. "Can they?"

"They can, child." Tadashi muttered grimly, his eyes finally lifting to meet Yuki's baffled expression. "And they have."

"Then she needs to tell them no!" Yuki snapped harshly, his tone giving way to an undertow of childish petulance.

"To continue funding the trial in any way, against their wishes, would mean certain ruin for the company." Tadashi murmured with another shake of his head. "They've already threatened to pull all support and future investments." His voice dropped with a frightening level of severity as he finished. "...and you're mother's already agreed to their terms." The gravity of the situation hit full force as both men were leveled in a moment of weighted silence.

"But you're still going to help me, right?" Yuki murmured cautiously, still reeling from what he had been told as his gaze searched the man's face for this desperately needed answer. "...right...?" He whispered along the tremor in his voice, his gaze now frantically darting along Tadashi's face in the wake of the man's silence. "...Tadashi...?"

"I'm sorry, child..." This single, wrenching apology was Yuki's only reply as his jaw went slack in disbelief.

"...no..."

"They're demanding removal of _all_ ties...including my own." And Yuki shook his head in an almost childish attempt to ward off this news.

"...no..."

"Following this meeting, I'll no longer be able to represent you in court." Yuki violently squeezed his eyes shut against the threat of unshed tears and rage as he continued to shake his head.

"...no... No. No!" Yuki snarled as lashes flew open to reveal a gaze filled with anger, pain, despair and betrayal as he continued to scream through the phone. "This is bullshit, Tadashi, and you know it!" He yelled. "This isn't some risk assessment to cut further losses! This is my life!" His lip quivered in unhinged rage as his words came sharp and pointed like the edge of a deadly blade to wound the man sitting before him. "My! Life!"

"...I know..." Tadashi offered up this concession helplessly.

"The prosecution wants my head on a platter!" Yuki continued to vent his mounting rage laced in frustration and fear. "They're going for the death penalty!"

"I know, child." The man attempted to sooth through the deep rumble of his voice. "I know." His voice came even along the other line of the phone as he expressed his remorse over this decision. "Believe me, I don't want to do this. But I promise that I'll speak with your new attorney personally." Tadashi spoke with confident determination as he held the child's frightened gaze. "Everything that I know, he'll know."

"Who are they giving me?!" Yuki snapped, clearly not having been placated by the man's assurance.

"A public defender." Tadashi admitted with some chagrin, knowing that the young man was smart enough to understand the ramifications of this decision.

"A public defender?!" He snarled in outrage. "Tadashi, you _can't_!" This came violently snapped from lips in protest. "If you step down from this case...I'll go to prison!" And the child's expression of complete betrayal through a gaze threatening tears was enough to cause Tadashi to look away in shame.

"I'm truly sorry..." He repeated this helplessly, unable to look Yuki in the eye any further.

"Don't _do_ this to me, Tadashi!" Yuki screamed in despair. "Don't you leave me!" His voice cracked along tears he was unable to cry.

"I simply don't have a choice." Tadashi uttered flatly.

"If you leave me...I'm going to _die_." Yuki's lips quivered along this statement, his fragile, frightened voice begging and pleading with the man to look at him.

Just _look_ at him...

But the young man was forced to watch as this father figure silently hung up the phone.

" _Tadashi, don't do this!"_ The voice came too muffled behind the glass to make out.

Too muffled to hear this desperate plea as the man stood himself up from his seat and turned the other way. Without a second glance. And left.

And a wave of deafening silence followed.

* * *

 **A/N: First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge and recognize a very special person. SweeLiars has been a long time reader and reviewer of mine, as well as a precious friend and amazingly talented author. And though this is coming a little late, I would like to wish SweeLiars a very Happy Birthday, as they had their special day on April 24th. Happy Birthday, SweetLiars! You are an awesome person, and even more amazing friend. This chapter is for you!**

 **And in other news, I would like to thank all those who have supported this particular story. You guys are the best!**

 **And...last but not least, I would like to end this particularly dismal chapter with some levity...like my love of music. Now...when asked what music I love, I figured that this list would be far too long for anyone to be genuinely interested in. So...I give you all my Hate List. The list of Bands and/or artists that have in one way or another dissatisfied the Queen. This list is surprisingly shorter, and by far more insightful. And I welcome you all to comment!**

 **Killer Disco Queen's 'Hate List'**

 **Green Day (Because the lead singer's voice makes me want to punch a baby...in the throat)**

 **Foo Fighters (Their songs are hella long. And not the good kind of long. The bad kind of long.)**

 **Justin Bieber (No explanation needed)**

 **Three Doors Down (No particular reason...I just do)**

 **Nickleback (Though these guys are kind of fun to hate...which makes me inadvertently enjoy them)**

 **A Perfect Circle/Tool/Puscifer (All for the same reason. Maynard...you asshole...you know what you did. And you will forever be in the naughty corner.)**

 **Though this list is not comprehensive, you get the point!**

 **Until next time, thank you for the continued support!**


	7. An Unexpected Meeting

_'I need a new partner in crime,_

 _And you shrug_ _'_

The impatient jostling of his leg gained a mildly irritated scowl followed by a small sigh. Though that faint whisper of vexation might as well have been a scream with the way it shattered the deafening silence. And matters weren't helped by the woman's contemptuous glower towards his presence when she knew full well that he was being made to wait against his own volition. And being truly honest with himself, if he hadn't come here in a professional capacity as his client's legal representative, he would have walked right through that imposing office door some time ago, regardless of the consequences.

...patience had never been a virtue he had ever possessed a great deal of...

Fishing the pack of cigarettes from his business trousers, Kyo sought the distraction of a nicotine rush and convenience of a smoke screen as he sifted through the myriad of thoughts creeping themselves through his mind. His client's former legal representation was being far from cooperative in the process concerning his client's appeal. And it perturbed him a great deal that he had to admit that his client had been right...because embracing humility wasn't something he was fond of, either.

He gave himself over to a disgruntled puff of smoke and a small scowl as he mulled over this unsavory thought.

But...the fact remained that the Ice Prince had been right about Akiyama Tadashi, and Kyo's injunction had done little to incited the man's cooperation in the appeals process. He had sorely underestimated the man, because Akiyama was absolutely brilliant and ruthless in the art of utilizing legal evasion to keep him from speaking to the head of Sohma Company...Sohma Yuki's mother. And Kyo found the overwhelming silence and lack of cooperation more than slightly unnerving. With his experience in law _and_ dealing with people, Kyo found that when someone said nothing at all, it was usually because they had something to say.

...something to hide...

The question became, what exactly was the head of Sohma Company hiding about her son...?

And why was Akiyama Tadashi actively helping her cling to these secrets?

If Sohma Yuki was right about his innocence, then why were they remaining silent?

 _'You would find it simply_ _ **astounding**_ _what you can hide...'_ These hauntingly cryptic and sardonic words from his client rang through his mind, coming horridly amplified by his thoughts and the all encompassing silence of the overtly garish waiting room. So many secrets. So much deception within these very walls. Perpetuated by silence and his _client's_ own duplicity over the damaging existence of his prenuptial agreement. The whole entire Sohma empire was dripping...simply _gushing_ red with scandal. It had been for years, now, and it was a marvel that the company hadn't been sent reeling into complete ruin with the events of the Honda-Sohma murder.

Another whisper of smoke crawled from his lips in a lazy curl as his gaze drifted towards the perturbed looking woman at the front desk. And it was all he could do to avoid rolling his eyes before the soft lull of a deep murmur startled Kyo from his slight stupor.

"I don't think you should be smoking here." The deep voice lilted delicately, drawing Kyo's gaze from the disgruntled looking woman to an equally effeminate man looking to be in his mid thirties sitting several seats away from him.

The man's overwhelmingly flamboyant, striking handsomeness momentarily took Kyo off guard before he found himself again.

"Really." Kyo quipped coolly, already having been put out by having to wait to speak with _anyone_ around here. "I don't remember seeing a 'no smoking' sign anywhere." He murmured sardonically as he took another pithy drag of his cigarette.

"I'm certain that there's one posted just outside this lobby, sir." The effeminate man gave a small smile to Kyo's antics. "It's been there for nearly twenty years."

"And how exactly would you know that?" Kyo retorted with the dubious quirk of his eyebrow towards this man's claim.

"For many years, this place was my second home." The man spoke plainly through that deep lilt and soft smile of his.

"And you are...?" Kyo asked pointedly with the faintest falter of an unprofessional scowl towards the man.

"My apologies for not introducing myself properly. Where are my manners?" The man almost chuckled through his smile. "How terribly rude of me." He stood from his seat, his tall, lithe figure drifting gracefully towards Kyo has he extended his hand in greeting. "Sohma Ayame."

At the mention of this surname Kyo's irritation swiftly shifted to shocked embarrassment towards his behavior. Quickly snuffing out his cigarette, Kyo stood to meet the man with a small, courteous bow before accepting the man's hand in a shake of introduction. Taking in the man's strangely feminine appearance, Kyo began to notice certain similarities. Beyond the different colored eyes. The strangely ivory frosted hair coming past the man's shoulders. The slight height added to his slender, almost flamboyantly dressed frame. Kyo could see a resemblance to his client that was difficult to ignore...now that he knew.

"I'm really sorry about that, Sohma-san." Kyo murmured apologetically as the two sat themselves back down. "Please, allow me to introduce myself." And the man gave another smile and the quick, dismissive wave of his hand.

"I know full well who you are, sir." His deep voice lilted softly as that kindly smile came laced with a level of amusement at having caught Kyo off guard. "You're the lawyer out to make a name for himself by representing my brother." And Kyo gave a small, hesitant nod of concession to this boldly stated fact. "So who is it that you've come to see?" The man asked politely with the small tilt of his head and almost delicate brush of his hair as he absentmindedly tucked a loose tender behind his ear. "I might be able to be of some assistance." He offered, and Kyo's emotions shifted from embarrassment and slight confusion to a level of gratitude.

Maybe a Sohma could expedite his wait in speaking with the head of the company.

"I need to speak with the head of Sohma Company." Kyo murmured, only to be met with the man's unsettling, boisterous laughter at his expense.

"What?" Kyo quipped through a growing level of irritation, being violently reminded of his client's laughter as the man before him worked to stifle his amusement.

Was this whole _family_ mocking him in his efforts?

"I seriously doubt that you'll get the opportunity to speak with her personally." The man murmured through that strangely sweet smile.

"Why?" Kyo almost snapped, violently attempting to reign in his quick temper.

"Well...I've been trying to speak with that woman for over fifteen years, now." His smile faltered infinitesimally to something slightly more somber as he held Kyo's gaze. "And I have yet to be graced with an audience with her." This came followed by a small, sardonic chuckle and the shake of his head before he continued.

"So you see, sir, I think it's unlikely that you'll get your chance with her." He uttered softly, his gaze convening a level of candid earnestness. "Most _especially_ if you've come on my brother's behalf." The man's expression fell strangely stoic, and Kyo felt himself visibly deflate, unwilling to admit the potential futility of all of his hard work and efforts as the man gave him a woefully empathetic smile.

"Come." The man beckoned softly, the warm smile once again gracing his lips as he spoke. "Neither of us are wanted here. Let me at least treat you to a coffee for your trouble, hm?"

The two sat across the table from each other, a large bay window to the side looking out on the bustling city as Kyo took in the extravagant surroundings. When the man had offered to buy him a drink at a cafe, Kyo hadn't expected going to such a lavish establishment. He was unaccustomed to such elegance and sophistication, and disliked how uncomfortable it made him now.

"It's been so long since I've seen my brother." The man mused quietly to himself, gaining Kyo's attention away from the window as he gazed almost forlornly into his coffee cup. "He stopped accepting my visitation requests over two years ago." He lilted softly, his voice and tone contemplative as he spoke. "He doesn't take my calls anymore, either..." His eyes slowly lifted from the cup to meet Kyo's gaze, his words coming along the heels of trepidation. "How is he?"

Taking in the man's hesitantly expectant gaze, Kyo gave himself over to a small sigh. Attorney-client privilege prohibited him from sharing any pertinent information about his client's case, but Kyo suspected that wasn't what this man was wanting to know.

"He's cold, distant, and evasive." Kyo muttered bluntly, watching the man's expression falter in sorrow as he averted his gaze.

"So much like he use to be..." The man lamented with the slight shake of his head before his eyes drifted back to Kyo. "Ever since Father passed away...when our mother began grooming him to take over the family business."

"But you're the elder bother..." Kyo murmured lowly with the small raise of his brow. "Shouldn't it have been your place to take over the company?"

"Please, sir." The man's expression came slightly humored at Kyo's question. "Look at me." His tone came somewhat sardonic with self-deprecation. "Do you _really_ see _me_ as the face of a globally illustrious company?" This question came pointed through the smirk of a smile towards Kyo's silence as he remained tight-lipped to an honest response.

Kyo had to silently admit to himself that he really couldn't see someone as flamboyantly eccentric as this man running an organization as cutthroat and ruthless as Sohma Company. And a breathlessly light, chimelike chortle of laughter towards his silence saved Kyo from having to actually give a response to this rhetorical question as the man's expression came almost whimsical in thought.

"Neither did our mother." He mused playfully to himself before his gaze focused on Kyo once more, his expression a little more serious than it had been just moments ago. "She always viewed me as a worthless son. A lost cause. A spiteful, strong willed child with an indomitable spirit..." The man's words came as haunting as his gaze, reminding Kyo of his client. "...because I dared to live my own life instead of the one she saw fit for me." His features betrayed the infinitesimal signs of anguish before it came swiftly masked by his ever present smile. "Mother never even _considered_ preparing me to take over the family business after Father's passing." He mused, deep in thought as he gave a small nod to himself and the words that followed. "It had always been my brother's place." He murmured in a deep lilt, taking a delicate sip from his coffee cup before continuing. "Not that this ever upset me, mind you." The man spoke candidly as he placed the now empty cup back down on the table.

"So it _never_ bothered you that your mother chose your younger brother over you?" Kyo asked, his tone more than slightly dubious towards the man's claim of indifference towards his birthright.

"No." The man murmured with the light shake of his head. "Never." His expression showing no hint or trace of contempt or jealousy towards his brother _or_ his mother's choice in him. "Yuki had always been the better choice to take over the business." This statement came blunt and matter of fact, suddenly leaving Kyo with the blatantly glaring proverbial elephant in the room.

"So..." Kyo murmured, focusing on his own dwindling coffee as he decided with himself on how best to go about subtlety fishing for answers that no one else seemed willing to give him in regards to his current case. "Since it's unlikely that your brother will be able to take over Sohma Company..." He paced himself, careful to tread lightly along his suspicions as to not come off as overtly accusing the man of any nefarious actions or motives. "...would you be taking over in his place?" Kyo questioned, working to avoid any implications over the man's presence at Sohma Company.

But...in the back of his mind...Kyo began slowly piecing together an increasingly troubling picture. If this man were lying about his lack of interest and ambition in taking over Sohma Company...as Kyo suspected he _might_ be...he seemed to have _more_ than enough motive for wanting his younger brother and heir to the company publicly scandalized. Kyo had to concede that this only seemed to solidify and strengthen his client's claim of innocence. Yet all of his silent suspicion was met with another string of lithe laughter and a small, dismissive wave of the man's delicate hand.

"No." The man chuckled lightly towards the mere thought of this absurd idea. "Even if Mother _begged_ me to, there is _no_ way that I would sacrifice my life goals and everything I've accomplished to take over my family's business." His gaze drifted away from Kyo towards the large bay window as he continued in his musings. "Besides, I've heard recent rumors that she has already approached my younger cousin, Kureno." He mulled over this decision before speaking again. "He's not _nearly_ as smart or ruthless as my brother, mind you. But I imagine that Mother approached him because Kureno-kun is known for being very good at preserving the status quo and doing what is expected. What others tell him to do." These words came in a soft, whimsical lilt. "I sense Mother is actually counting on this, if the rumors are true." The gentle smile lingered along his lips as he spoke, his gaze drifting from the window to meet Kyo once more.

"She needs someone who will do as they're told..." The man spoke, a small smirk of a smile tugging along the corner of his lips, his tone turning slightly theatrical. "And _clearly_ that's never been my strong suit." He gave a small chuckle to this and the expression along Kyo's face. "I've grown too old and set in my ways to begin pleasing that woman now." His smile turned playfully coy. "That...and I think I've become rather fond of continually disappointing her." Another small chuckle followed thin fingers as they delicately swept a loose tendril of hair behind his ear as the man's gaze drifted down to the table. "In fact, I had just been on my way to see Mother about relinquishing my rights and ties to the family business and any shares Father bequeathed to me before he died. But I suppose that it will be far easier on _both_ of us if Tashi-san just sends me the legal forms to disinherit myself." The man spoke the family lawyer's pet name with the small shrug of his shoulders.

"Are you close with Akiyama-san?" Kyo asked, hoping for an opening of sorts in being able to speak with the evasive counselor.

"No, not really." The man murmured with the small shake of his head, his gaze still lingering along the table and empty coffee cup. "When Father died, I was sixteen and already planning on leaving to live on my own." His voice grew low and a little quieter as he spoke. "But Yuki..." The man faltered along his brother's name as thick lashes fluttered along childhood memories. "...he was only six. And he took to Tadashi as a father figure after Father's passing. The two of them were very close." And for a moment, the man seemed so old and world weary...and sad.

"I left as soon as I could after finishing high school, and never once looked back." These words came lowly murmured. "And I think that a part of him always resented me for that." His voice dropped to the breath of a whisper. "...for abandoning him like that, and leaving him alone with her." The expression along his face was somber and stoic as he continued. "We were never close after that, even after I had attempted to make amends and come back into his life. And I saw the toll it had taken on him...being raised by our mother. He had become so much like her. Cold and hollow. Empty." A shuttered breath of pained remorse and regret released itself from his lips as he gave a moments pause. "I saw what Mother had molded him into, and I began to hate myself for it. More than even he did, I think." His words lulled into a quiet murmur before the man's features smoothed over into a more neutral expression as his gaze finally lifted from the table.

"But something changed in him when he met her..." The smile along his lips came warm and grew upon itself with fond memories. "When he met Tohru-chan, my brother became a completely different person. Kinder and far less guarded." He lulled softly through that smile of his. "He had this spark about him that I hadn't seen in years...and he was happy. For the first time that I could ever remember, my brother was happy." The man's gaze came direct and fiercely intense like that of his younger brother as he spoke. "And it was because of her that he and I began speaking with each other again." The smile along his lips was so heart-wrenching as Kyo tried not to noticed the infinitesimal quiver of emotion. "She gave me my brother back..."

In a dramatically intimate display, Kyo watched with a level of discomfort as the man covered his face to veil the threat of tears, his voice coming thready on the brink of failing him completely.

"For everyone else this tragedy is over and they've moved on. But there isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel her absence and this overwhelming sense of loss." A moment of awkward silence came gently disturbed by the man's unobtrusive weeping before he managed to collect himself, dabbing his eyes as he gave Kyo an apologetic and slightly embarrassed look from across the table.

"My apologies." The man murmured, his tone abashed as he attempted a softer smile. "All this time...and my heart is still filled with such grief." His voice lulled delicately through the space between them as Kyo held his gaze. "But no one felt her loss more deeply than my brother."

"So you don't believe he was responsible for her death?"

Kyo's question over the man's stance on his brother's claim of innocence seemed to take him off guard for a moment. His lashes fluttered in registration of this question, and all of the implications behind it before his brow furrowed under the thoughts racing through his mind. Kyo watched him truly consider this question before the slightest puff of a sigh passed his thin lips.

"Do you have a woman, sir?" He asked, the furrow along his brow deepening.

"What...?" Kyo mumbled, now taken aback himself at the very same question his client had asked him during their first meeting.

"Are you with someone?" The man questioned, his stare coming intense as he gazed at Kyo before continuing. "A girlfriend or wife?" These words lilted delicately from his lips. "Someone you are close to?"

"A girlfriend." Kyo murmured quietly, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu as the man gave the small bob of his head.

"Then perhaps you will be able to comprehend what I tell you now." His voice softly lilted. "When you find that _one_ person who connects you to the world, you become someone different. Someone _better_." His words came fiercely intense in the quiet whisper of breath that carried them. "I found that person in my life partner, Mine Kuramae. And I believe my brother had found that in his Tohru." The light lull of his voice drew Kyo into this all consuming moment. "So I simply cannot believe that he would be capable of such an atrocity as the murder of his own wife. No." He shook his head in protest to the mere thought of this. "That is no more possible than me harming my precious Mine." This came uttered with such profound and weighted seriousness and candor. "But tell me something, sir..." His voice dropped to the very breath of a whisper as Kyo found himself leaning in to absorb the man's words. "When that person is taken from you..." He gave a slight pause with the perplexed furrow of his brow. "What do you become then...?"

Kyo leaned himself back in his seat with a weighted puff of a sigh to this question. _'When that person is taken from you...what do you become then?'_ A part of him desperately wished that he had the answer to this question. A child's prayer. A child's scream. When you lose someone special to you...what do you become? What do you do...to survive the irrevocable damage of this loss, and the mark that it leaves?

"Please, sir." The man's deep voice drew Kyo from darker thoughts of his childhood and the death of his mother. "Do not think me overly cruel or wicked in saying this, but it's my sincerest hope that you do not succeed in your endeavor of exonerating my brother." Kyo's brow furrowed in perplexed bemusement as the man continued to explain himself. "You see, losing Tohru-chan..." The man lilted against a slight pause before pressing forward. "...the way that he did..." His gaze flitted away briefly before returning to Kyo's face. "Well...it did something quite terrible to him. Twisted him." The man's expression became grim. "And the last time that I saw him. That he _allow_ ed me to visit him. I saw it in his eyes. There is nothing left of her goodness in him."

A weighted silence filled the moment as the two stared at each other from across the cafe table. The gravity of this man's words sinking in to the very walls of this establishment before his voice gently disturbed the quiet.

"You wanted to ask me if I thought that he killed her." The man murmured, his gaze as deep and serous as the tone of his voice. "No." He lightly shook his head. "I _know_ that he didn't kill her, though that makes little difference now." His words came lightly marred with a level of sarcasm. "But make no mistake that where he is now is _exactly_ where he needs to be." The man spoke gravely with the deep lilt of his effeminate voice. "It's for the best interest and safety of all of us." His tone dropped to match the seriousness of his words. "And the kindest prayer that I can whisper towards the heavens for him now, is that his sentence be carried out swiftly, as an act of mercy on him." Lashes fluttered against the sudden emotion that briefly flitted along the man's striking features before he pushed forward, continuing to speak his peace. "And that he may be reunited with his wife and find a lasting peace in the life beyond this one."

"So you want him to die?" Kyo questioned, more than a little perplexed at the man's statement.

"There are some things you cannot recover from." The man's voice lulled so forlornly through the quiet of the cafe. "Losing the best part of yourself in an unfathomable act of violence is one of them." His gaze met Kyo's in a moment of calm clarity before his voice manifested in a soft, deep murmur that perforated the silence.

"Believe me when I tell you, sir." The man murmured seriously to Kyo. "My brother is already dead."

* * *

 **A/N: HAPPY FORTH OF JULY! LET FREEDOM RING!**

 **Ehem...sorry about that. As a side note and public service announcement, be careful today and don't blow yourselves up.**

 **And those of you who know me, know that to say I am not a big fan of Kyo is a gross understatement. So you should all be proud of this Kyo focused chapter. That...as I think about it...became more of an Ayame focused chapter. So take that! Hahahahaha...hahaha...haha...ha. Ehem. Okay then...moving on.**

 **The quote/question from Ayame about what do you become when you lose that one person was taken from an amazing TV series called 'Persons of Interest.'**

 **Thank you all for continuing to support this story and my horribly late updates. I appreciate it. As a thanks to you all, I shall now reveal a little known fact about myself. As thanks...and possible punishment.**

 **So...yours truly...is a closet Taylor Swift fan. Make fun of me...I dare you. I figure if anyone does laugh at me, it won't really bother me much anyway. Know why?**

 **Cause the haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate**

 **And the players gonna play play play play play**

 **So I'm just gonna shake shake shake shake shake**

 **Shake it off**

 **Shake it off**

 **Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!**


	8. A Life Painted In Shades Of Gray

_'The promises I made if you just hold on'_

Stepping into the quaint cafe to the sound of a soft, almost faint bell, he gave an even fainter smile to the hostess who greeted him.

Soft...yet just a bit cold as his striking features smoothed over into a disciplined expression once more.

His gate and stride came fluidly elegant in trained, sophisticated movements. The way he held himself, his amethyst gaze simultaneously regarding yet avoiding the other patrons came proprietous...and just a bit snobbish. Though this cafe wasn't nearly as elegant or lavish as his upbringing was accustomed too, he found that he rather enjoyed coming here. To places such as this.

Though he never made a point of mingling and engaging with others, he found it refreshing to place himself in the general population. Around normal people.

It was a humbling reminder to him that there was actually a world revolving around him outside of the one that he lived in. A fact that he found himself losing touch with more regularly through the rigorous demands placed upon him as of late.

As he sat himself in a corner away from the other people, he felt their eyes upon him. Heard their hushed murmurs. Some of the men whispered lowly in envious admiration towards his successes and obvious physical appeal to the fairer sex. The women giggled amongst themselves, chattering lightly through soft tenors as they spared him wayward glances through lidded doe eyes. But none of them seemed willing to move and approach him in conversation. Not that this particularly bothered him today, as he found himself far too busy to afford such a luxury.

Placing the thick file along the coffee table, he found his ear keenly aware of other whispers. Colder words spoken under breath. A name uttered by those who saw past the fame and popularity, and made a point to actually observe his many business practices and dealings with the community.

 _'Ice Prince'_.

He had always disliked that name given by his many scornful business competitors and the unforgiving media. Hated it, in fact, because in some ways it rang so very true. Truer than any of them realized. Willfully ignoring these whispers through a show of openly pompous arrogance, he opened the file in order to go about conducting his business in peace.

None of them would truly be able to comprehend exactly how he felt and the toll this life took on him. And explaining himself would only seem like a childish complaint against being born into a gilded cage in an attempt to gain pity he neither wanted nor would ever receive. In fact, he ventured to guess that it would only serve to solidify their beliefs of his entitled arrogance. In the end, to explain himself would only be a waist of their time...and his own.

Instead of dwelling on the fact that the circumstances of his public perception would never change, Yuki dove into his work.

His life's obligation to Sohma Company and to his family name.

Today he found himself enthralled, marveling and rather enjoying the distraction of legal documents provided by the company's lawyer. Yuki had developed a growing admiration for the way his mentor managed to turn endless forms of legal jargon into eloquent pieces of art. With a simple turn of phrase, Tadashi made the law seem almost beautiful to those with the ability to stop and truly appreciate it.

After this morning's Risk Assessment meeting with the company's board members, Yuki had been tasked with addressing any further concerns before they reached a decision on Sohma Company's latest proposed business acquisition. Yuki had thought that a merge with the smaller company to combine the interests of both would have been more advantageous rather than simply absorbing it in an acquisition for the profit and gain of Sohma Company. He saw value in a collaboration, and had said as much to the board at this morning's meeting. A sentiment that, it seemed, the board did not share when they made it abundantly clear that they were more interested in the risks and gains of absorbing the company in question than looking into the benefits of a collaboration. They deemed a merge with the company pointless at best, and holding far too many risks in a worst case scenario.

So at the end of the meeting they tasked him with further scrutinizing the risks involved in a full acquisition...or nothing at all.

Delving further into the file's contents over the cup of coffee he had ordered, Yuki familiarized himself with every aspect and detail of this latest Sohma conquest. Another life absorbed and swallowed up by the Sohma name. Another life...ceasing to exist and soon to be overshadowed. Coming to a death, of sorts. If a company could really die. And pending on his final assessment, Yuki would become its executioner.

It was little wonder why he was so hated by Sohma Company's many business competitors. His name alone heralded death. And there was no denying that, despite his youth, Yuki was brilliantly gifted at what he did. The many fruits of his labor could be seen in the recent success and ravenous monopolistic growth of his family's company. It would not have been pompous or grossly outlandish to say that Yuki had made himself an invaluable tool in the corporation with his many gifts and talents. Under the guidance and constant direction of his mother, it was also widely known and accepted that Yuki was well on his way to taking over the family's business.

In time.

Though any other person in his position would have been jumping at this opportunity, Yuki found himself dreading that day to come. Because...like everything else concerning Sohma Company, assuming the position of CEO would be viewed by his mother as merely another acquisition. Done in the best interest of the company. And on that day, Sohma Yuki would cease to exist too. Another life...another name...swallowed up and absorbed. Gone forever.

Staring at the pages and details that made up this company hanging in the balance, Yuki came to the startlingly grim realization that the fate of this company and his own were as intertwined as they were inevitable. And the dismal irony of this latest pending acquisition was not lost on him. Primly propping his elbow along the cafe table to rest his chin, Yuki continued to gaze seriously at the documents as the fingertips of his free hand delicately curled around his dwindling coffee. Another small, wordless nod and thin lipped smile to the waitress tending to his drink, and Yuki was once again absorbed and completely focused on his work.

Lost in the endless pages, the fate of this company and his own hanging over his head in the balance, the world around him began to fade away. And he was once again drawn into the world he had come from. A world where everything was already decided and predetermined. His fate having long been devoid of color with a life painted in stark black and white and varying shades of bleak, dismal gray. The black ink of the document harshly contrasting with the white of the paper it had been printed on an almost theatrically bitter sweet metaphor of where he found himself.

On the inside, Yuki was desperately screaming for something to come along and color him in.

And then...it happened. A whirlwind of chaos that violently jarred him from this drab world of predestination and fatalistic predictability as a flurry of motion collided into the table where he sat. The high, startled squeak of a woman heralded the immediate onslot of warm liquid as Yuki witnessed the black and white documents washed in a sea of cream brown and beige. And slowly, as if time itself was lagging in a strange lull, the black ink began to bleed and run, smudging and fading into a serendipitous oblivion before a pale hand not his own began to dab at the papers with a napkin. This finally drew Yuki's attention to the disheveled woman in front of him.

 _Color._

His eyes first caught and drawn in by the stunning, vibrant orange of her light knit sweater.

 _Color._

Absorbing the hues of vivacious blues and reds from her short plaid skirt.

 _Color._

That amethyst gaze slowly trailing back up from her legs to the warm auburn of hair that came tied with an exquisite chromatic ribbon that matched the color of her eyes as she finally stopped dabbing at the coffee soiled papers to take notice of him noticing her.

"I am _so_ sorry!" Her voice came in that same bashful squeak, her cheeks dusting a brilliant shade of soft pink towards Yuki's staring to give him yet another color to drink in. "I hope these aren't really important." He watched her azure gaze drift from his silent gawking to the table again as his eyes followed suit to take in the now smudged and ruined documents.

"They were..." His voice manifested softly in a cool lilt, still in slight awe at how strangely freeing the destruction of these papers had been.

This response earning a small defeated whimper from the woman.

"I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine..." The light raise of his hand stopped this apology in its tracks as he continued to stare at the papers before him, the woman bowing her head in dejection.

"Could I at least buy you a cup of coffee or some lunch?" He heard this heartfelt murmur, setting down the cup he hadn't realized he was still grasping as his cold amethyst gaze finally regarded the young woman once more.

" _You_..." The smooth, trained lilt of Yuki's voice carried his words as he spoke in a slowed lull. "...want to treat _me_ to coffee or lunch..." This came with the small, dubious quirk of an eyebrow. _"...after_ pouring coffee all over my work..." Yuki bared witness to how the woman was now shamed by his insinuating statement.

"I didn't mean anything by it..." She whispered, her brilliant azure eyes falling to her shoes in embarrassment. "I just wanted to apologize for ruining your hard work, is all." This came through the soft tremble of pink lips. "I wasn't asking for a date or anything." The woman responded through a breathless murmur.

Yuki had lived his whole life around people. Managing people. Directing people. Engaging people. But never before had his world been so catastrophically rocked by a single soul.

Until now.

And this feeling was so completely foreign to him. Like a deep breath of fresh air after having been so cruelly robbed of its necessary life giving force. Was _this_ what being truly alive felt like, he wondered to himself? If it was, Yuki found himself enjoying the sweet taste and wanting more.

Taking in the woman's adorably chagrined expression once more, Yuki gave himself over to an overly loud and theatrical sigh towards her sincere claim of not having wanted to intentionally request a date of him.

"Well _that's_ a relief."

His words came dramatically pronounced with the high arch of his brows as he gained her eyes from the floor, his shifting away to the soiled papers on the coffee table as he avoided her pained expression.

"Because I happen to be a bit old fashioned." Yuki lulled with a small smile, still gazing at the ruined documents he would need to reclaim later on in order to proceed with his company's pending acquisition.

But he found that that could wait...

"...and..." his voice grew a bit softer as he continued, shaking his head as he felt an unbeckoned smile tug at his lips. "...it would be a bit of a blow to my ego and _terribly_ embarrassing for me if _you_ were the one to ask for a date...instead of me." That amethyst gaze lifted from the documents to take stalk of the effects of his smooth operation as the woman's mouth visibly gaped open in speechless surprise.

"Though I _do_ have to admit that this little mishap has sent me back in my deadline a little bit." Yuki continued in a level of genuine remorse. "...so lunch won't really be an option for me today." And he watched in wonder at the exquisite way her cheeks burned with embarrassment and astonishment.

"What?!" The poor, baffled woman struggled to comprehend his intentions and the way this awkward situation had so suddenly changed.

"Well..." Yuki fought against the growth of the smile playing along his lips as his own brows furrowed in kind. "...Miss...?" He questioned, prompting her to adorably blurt out her name.

"Honda." She squeaked with the blush of her cheeks. "Tohru Honda."

"Well, Honda-san." He murmured politely. "I was hoping that you would do me the honor of allowing me to take you to dinner instead."

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly let you do that!" She protested with the shake of her head that caused her auburn tresses to move in an attractive wave as Yuki gave a small frown.

He wasn't exactly use to being told no.

"Not after I ruined your papers." Tohru uttered emphatically as her azure gaze met Yuki's striking features. "It would be wrong of me to bother you further by having you treat me to a meal."

"Honestly, it wouldn't be a bother." Yuki responded cordially in an attempt to sooth the woman's almost anxiously scatterbrained nature.

"I wouldn't want you to be inconvenienced." She quipped as he gave the small cant of his head to this.

"Do you know who I am?" He questioned, wondering if maybe she truly didn't notice that, due to his family name and fortune, extending a simple dinner invitation would do little to inconvenience him.

"Yes." Tohru conceded with the soft jerk of her head, the expression along her features shaped in bemusement towards this fact as if it were an irrelevant concern in this matter.

"Really..." Yuki found himself further enthralled by this flighty woman.

"At least allow me to cook for you." She countered with a determined expression. "To make amends." This caused another tilt of the head as Yuki continued to listen to her counteroffer to his date, the woman's features blossoming into a radiant smile. "I've been told that my cooking is beyond reproach!"

It was then, in that moment, that Yuki agreed to her offer. Because he found that, even if he _could_ have said no, he simply didn't want to.

* * *

 **A/N: It was hard. So terribly hard. To write you all this fluff without throwing up. But I DO hope that it was enjoyable for you!**

 **Another random thought to impart from yours truly. I find it quite fun to do a little leg work on jargon and terms in order to ensure that I am accurately fleshing out details of a story to make a scene sound and feel as believable as possible (while making myself appear WAY smarter and more knowledgeable than I actually am). That being said, I imagine that anyone truly in business and/or would find my attempts laughable.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and don't get to review.**


	9. Death From Above

****A/N: My apologies for the length of this chapter. But I felt as if there was no way to separate or shorten it without somehow diminishing its integrity. I hope you all find it enjoyable, and not entirely cumbersome.****

 ** **As a side note, this story has now reached it's year mark for publication. That is both wonderful to me...and just a bit sad, as it shows how slowly I have been in tending to this piece.****

* * *

 ** **WARNING:****

 ** **The following content may contain elements that may not be suitable for some audiences.****

 ** **Viewer discretion is advised.****

 _'And there's a jet black crow droning on and on and on  
Up above our heads droning on and on and on'_

The energetic buzz of various noises and simultaneous conversations bounced off the brick walls and swirled around him as he moved himself through the communal cafeteria. Though this caused a division of his focus, he found it preferable to yet another meeting at that awful lime green table in the prison's visitation center. He had been strongly cautioned against this course of action. Coming _back_ into the prison's dangerous interior. Again. But he knew that if he had to see that putrid looking table at the visitors center...one more time...he was almost certain to become violently sick. He knew it.

Gaining the eyes of a few of the inmates and lingering guards, he felt himself a little out of place dressed in his business suit in a sea of white tank tops and orange jump suits. But it couldn't be helped. He _was_ here on business. Holding himself to a certain standard when in the suit and representing his clients. And he was anything if not professional.

When in the suit.

His girlfriend had found it almost comical. The way that a simple piece of attire could change the way he held himself. Tame his more brash, snarky, and less-than-professional temperament. Of course, her good-natured hazing at his expense was always taken with a grain of salt and a healthy dose of his bitter cynicism. But only because she was right, as she was with most things. Though he would never tell her as much. Most especially when it came to himself. But he had always found a level of truth in the sentiment that the suit made the man.

A few low whistles.

Some distant cat calls.

He held himself just a bit straighter towards this welcome as his gaze searched for the one he had come for. Making his way through the rows of benches filling the cafeteria, his eye finally met cold amethyst followed by a taut expression of disapproval towards his approach. Slowly claiming a seat along the bench across the table from his client, Kyo offered the cold man a small, almost wry smirk.

"Sohma-san." This came murmured from his lips as his arms came folded along the table that separated them.

"Tell me something..." Yuki's voice softly manifested through the hands that came to veil his lips in folded prayer, that cold gaze coming to scrutinize his lawyer. "Are you _trying_ to get yourself hurt or killed?" This question came laced in monotonous irritation with the furrow of his brow. "Because you're no good to me dead, counselor."

"Well then..." Kyo quipped with the small quirk of his eyebrow in a show of caustic humor. "I suppose that puts us in the same boat, now doesn't it." This statement was absorbed through an ever growing, grimly frigid expression of disapproval.

"Do you really have _that_ much disregard for your own personal safety?" Yuki questioned tersely as Kyo gave a small, amused shrug.

"Some people consider it a healthy sense of adventure." He countered, his demeanor shifting slightly more professional with the growing stares drawn to this meeting. "Besides, I was assured that I'm perfectly safe here." Kyo attempted to deflect his clients chastisement of this reckless visit with a small nod to the few guards in attendance.

"There's a fine line between being brave..." Yuki murmured quietly through slender folded fingers and that piercing amethyst gaze. "...and being _stupid_... _counselor._ "

Kyo felt every muscle tense in his body. Waves of rage and indignation washed over him, lapping up and over as he absorbed his client's words. The man was calling him stupid. Not in so many words, but the insinuating turn of phrase was meant to be insulting. He knew it. Could feel it. And the guileful show of disrespect was almost enough to push Kyo past his breaking point.

He wasn't doing this for profit.

He wasn't doing this for favor.

Hell, he wasn't even doing this to be _liked_ by the man.

But as a matter of principle in the attorney-client relationship, Kyo expected a level of respect. Though unable to pay for his legal services, surely the Ice Prince could afford something like that. A level of respect. Feeling his tanned skin warm towards his client's disrespect, Kyo became aware that the man was silently staring at him. Gauging his expression and reaction? Taking stalk of the effect of his words, perhaps? Either way, it was a reminder to Kyo. A trigger, of sorts, for him to temper his vexation as he worked to compose himself with a small smirk.

"Hm..." Kyo hummed lightly, meeting the man's amethyst gaze from across the way. "That's interesting." The smirk twitched along his lips towards the slightly befuddled furrow of his client's brows, the man's hands finally moving to mirror his own as they came folded along the table.

"What, exactly?" Yuki murmured coolly with a small scowl.

"Oh nothing..." Kyo waved dismissively with a casual tone and gesture of his hand. "I just didn't realize you were that concerned about my well-being."

"I'm really not." Yuki muttered tautly through lips drawn in a thin line of unamusement. "But as I already told you, counselor..." This came through light words and a fierce gaze. "...you're no good to me dead." A sigh passed through his thin nose as lips turned slightly down, tugging along scarred cheeks as his gaze followed suit to the table. "We're running out of time." His words met Kyo in hollow monotone. "And I'm not sure I have the luxury of looking for another attorney to represent me through this process if something should happen to you in here."

These almost fragile sounding words seeped themselves through Kyo's skin, rendering him momentarily speechless. _'We're running out of time'_. He found himself strangely humbled at having been reminded about the life hanging vicariously in the balance. Through this whole process, he hadn't really realized how vulnerable this man truly was. How much he was really depending and counting on him. Though Kyo suspected that...with the man's perpetually evasive, cold and distant demeanor...the Ice Prince had wanted it that way. But with these words, Kyo felt this invisible barrier between them fall and crumble.

Something he felt neither one of them had anticipated when they had first started this process together.

"But I _am_ here." Kyo murmured in a startling moment of earnestness, gaining the frigid gaze of his client as he produced the ever present pack of cigarettes, waving it playfully with a small smirk. "So you might as well make the best of my visit, hm?" And he watched his client consider this fact, amethyst eyes trailing the pack of cigarettes before giving the small bob of the head in concession as he accepted the token gift.

Their little ritual.

Taking one for himself, Kyo quickly lit his before offering the same gesture to the man across the table from him. Stashing both the pack of cigarettes and lighter away, Kyo took a satisfied drag, watching his client do the same before reengaging their conversation.

"So what progress have you made with my appeal, counselor?"

"Attempting to speak with your mother was a complete waist of my time." Kyo admitted through the curl of smoke, and the cool expression along his client's face didn't appear particularly surprised by this. "So I'm focusing all my efforts and resources on chasing down the list of people engaged by the prosecution." This came murmured professionally through his lips as he produced a file and slid it across the table for his client to look over. "I figure that if there's a weakness in the prosecution's case, I'll find it there...speaking with her witnesses." And he watched his client give a small nod of approval behind a screen of smoke to this follow up of his case.

"Anything else, counselor?" The man asked through that lifeless lilt, taking another drag of his cigarette.

And for a moment Kyo wondered if he should mention the unplanned meeting with Sohma Ayame before a small sigh pushed through his nose.

"I spoke with your brother." This statement fell from his lips as Kyo absorbed the small flicker of emotion behind that cold amethyst gaze.

"Did you, now..." This came coldly whispered through a curl of smoke and those taut lips as Kyo gave a small nod of concession. "...and...?" Yuki prompted with the quirk of his eyebrow and the slight purse of his lips that seemed to accentuate the scars along the hollows of his cheeks.

"He asked me how you were doing." Kyo admitted as Yuki averted his gaze to the table between them.

"What did you tell him?" He asked through a breathless whisper that dispersed the cloud of smoke before him.

"The truth." Kyo countered as he gained that cold, frigid gaze once more. "I told him that you were a giant pain in my ass." A sharp snort of bitter amusement pushed itself through the man's nose to dispel the smoke screen as those lips twisted and curled in a smile along his scarred cheeks, the cigarette coming gracefully poised between his slender fingers.

"He says that he misses you." Kyo offered up this fact as he watched the man's countenance shift into that same cool, stoic expression of indifference.

"I bet he did..." This came cold and heartlessly murmured through lifeless lips as Yuki took another drag of his cigarette, his gaze drifting away once more, though his features betrayed how these words truly effected him.

"And Tadashi?" He questioned lightly as Kyo gave the slight jerk of his head.

" Akiyama-san is still refusing to see me or allow me to speak with your mother."

"I see..." This came a breathless murmur that was soon swallowed up by the various sound swirling around them.

Taking in the strange expression shaping itself along the scarred features of his client, Kyo was reminded of what the man's brother had said. About his client having been extremely close with Akiyama Tadashi. And he saw how this news of Akiyama-san's non-intervention and continued silence effected the man. Even now...after so many years. Gazing upon his client, Kyo could truly _feel_ the man's isolation.

...and it left him cold...

Before further discussion could be made about this case, or any other matter pertaining to it, Kyo felt the environment around him drastically change and become increasingly overwhelmed with a swirling cacophony of noise. High pitched whoops and calls reverberated off the walls and tables, and along every surface and space of the cafeteria as they heralded an arrival of sorts. Kyo watched as a group of inmates moved through the tables as one, with one mind. One thought. One intention. Gaining a pack mentality as they fed off the energy and comradery of the group and those around them. Animalistic sounds and shouts came echoed and responded to, given acknowledgment as Kyo continued to take in this startlingly boisterous display.

Watching his client quickly snuff out and discard what was left of his gift in order to avoid drawing attention to himself, Kyo quickly did the same in order to hide away the evidence. Working to stifle his startle response as he watched physical displays of pushing and shoving over food to establish dominance and a pecking order, Kyo knew without a doubt that he needed to veil his growing concern. Not only out of self preservation against these predatory pack animals, but in order to hide the fact that his client might have been right to chastise him for coming here. Though he had heard of the harsh institutionalization of those in the prison population, Kyo had to admit to himself that there was a startling difference in actually witnessing its effects on the human spirit.

And a part of him was disturbed and more than a little terrified.

The pack sensed the presence of an outsider, seeming to almost sniff him out through the endless line of tables. The heady, wooden spicy green fragrance of his Kérastase Homme body wash immediately gave Kyo away in a room filled with stale air, sweat, testosterone, and the smell of generic bar soap. Though his girlfriend found the aroma of his wash irresistibly intoxicating, the only reason he continued to purchase and use it, Kyo found that the scent now drew attention that he would just as soon have avoided. A wish made too late as he was soon discovered by the group of approaching inmates.

"Counselor!" This came hollered over the cacophony of noise in a loud boom from a face in the group Kyo found himself recognizing.

The ox of a man who had challenged him to that fateful pull up competition, won, then offered him a rematch should he ever wish to regain his dignity. Hatsuharu, was it? Though he wasn't certain of the name, Kyo knew he remembered the face. So he gave a small wave of the hand as acknowledgment to the seemingly amiable greeting.

But the man was not alone. And, to Kyo's surprise, not the only face that he recognized as the group circled around and finally descended upon the table where he sat with his client. Dark, ominous, fierce black orbs met him in a staring contest of sorts, and Kyo was reminded of what his client had said about this particular man. Akito. The Okinawan. The professor. The historian.

...the murderer...

And a small smile began to play along the man's lips as he perched himself next to Yuki, the two of them complementing each other like fire and ice.

"Law man..." This pet name came darkly purred in that peculiar, thick Okinawan accent through thin lips twisted in a slight smirk, causing Kyo's expression to become tautly guarded. "Came back for another history lesson?" Akito murmured with that ever growing simper towards Kyo's discomfort.

"Not really." Kyo murmured in a forced show of indifference, curbing his uneasiness under the ever watchful gaze of those predatory onyx orbs.

To show any hint or trace of vulnerable weakness in the midst of these pack animals would most likely jeopardize his safety.

"He doesn't want to hear a pointless philosophical rant from you, Akito." This sardonic backlash drew Kyo's gaze to his competitor as the man stared down at him from the seat he had claimed along the table's top, loafer clad feet propped along the makeshift footstool of the bench below, his back bravely to the Okinawan as he gave Kyo a wry smirk of his own. "The counselor came back to reclaim his manhood." This generated a host of jeering snickers and snorts of amusement towards the well played jest.

Cold, amethyst eyes drifted away and down to the table. Slender fingers furled in a light fist that came to veil thin lips. As Kyo watched this silent, physical display from his client through the continued sounds of delight from the others, he began to suspect that even the legendarily stoic Ice Prince had been amused by this friendly hazing.

And still...in the midst of this levity...the Okinawan next to him continued to stare Kyo down from across the table.

"So what do you say?" The man perched on the table spoke again, lightly nudging Kyo's shoulder as he drew the attention of the group once more. "Care for a rematch?" And Kyo's gaze drifted away from deep obsidian pools, his head tilting to meet steely gray in response to this latest challenge.

"Wish I could." Kyo murmured honestly, almost regretting the fact that he still had a host of meetings with people that demanded a level of propriety. "But I have to be in court after this." More low snickers rustled through the group at his expense as Kyo heard the man let loose with a deep-barreled, sardonic tisk.

"That's a damn shame, counselor." The man grunted in disappointment, causing Kyo to give a small nod of genuine agreement. "But I suppose it wouldn't look too good for you coming in all hot and sweaty, now would it." An unintentional smirk twitched along the man's lips towards this insinuating comment as his gazed drifted in further consideration. "...what would you lawyers call that...?" The man mused lightly to himself as he sat along the table's surface. " _You._ Strutting into the court room all hot and sweaty..."

"Incriminating." Kyo uttered the legal jargon automatically, without a second thought to the suggestive tone it lent to the whole entire conversation as the small group burst into another fit of laughter and chortled snorts of amusement, Yuki shaking his head in dismay at his attorney's tactless faux pas.

"What?" Kyo quipped towards the group's amusement as he heard his client give an audible groan, causing the man sitting along the table next to him to grin.

"You." The ox of a man boldly tousled Kyo's hair like an adult would a small child, a swift action quickly ceased before Kyo could brush the hand away. "You're alright, counselor." The others of the group gave hums of approval and agreement. "You're welcome around here anytime." The man continued as more nods followed. "I mean...you know..." This came uttered just a little deeper through that impish steely gaze of his. "If you ever want your manhood back."

Fighting to stifle the urge to petulantly roll his eyes towards this lighthearted jab, Kyo averted his gaze from the man perched above him, only to once again land in a dark ominous black pool. There was something in the way that Akito stared at him that left Kyo physically unsettled. An unspoken challenge in that dark, ominous gaze. A challenge that was far less friendly, and infinitely more threatening than the one offered from his competitor.

Even though the man smiled with the others towards his comrade's antics, Kyo felt something sinister lurking underneath that amused expression. And in those features Kyo was reminded of his pseudo father, Kazuma. The man who had taken him in after his real father had forsaken him when his mother had take her own life. For a time during Kyo's youth, Kazuma had raised dogs for breeding. Kyo remembered once witnessing his kind, gentle father figure signaling out and roughly disciplining one of the male pups of a new litter. And as a child, it had startled Kyo and he had ran away. But Kazuma had quickly caught up to him, embracing him and consoling him before explaining.

The pup was strong willed and had displayed signs of aggression, Kazuma murmured. Though it was still young, the little one was well on its way to asserting himself as an alpha male. In the wild...in a pack...that wouldn't have been a problem. It would be what the other dogs needed. A leader. But Kazuma said that the pup would never live in that kind of world. His world would be surrounded by people. Someday, even, small children just like Kyo. And if that pup's behavior wasn't corrected now, when he was small, he could end up seriously hurting someone when eventually given to a family and grown to be a bigger dog. Worse yet, Kazuma murmured warmly, his brothers and sisters would follow him instead of their future masters and mistresses. So Kazuma had needed to implement rough physical contact with the pup to become the new alpha male himself. To lead the pup, and show him that people were his masters, and worthy of his respect and loyalty.

Kyo understood. The open hostility. The constant, unspoken confrontation. The dark, foreboding stare down. The smile filled with malicious intent.

The Okinawan was that puppy.

And Kyo knew, as his father figure's voice murmured caution to him, that this man was the alpha male. This group... _his_ pack. And if Akito were left unchecked in his overtly hostile behavior, Kyo feared that the others of the group would soon follow his lead and they would threaten to devouter him without a second thought. Kyo had to ensure his safety if he wished to continue coming here to serve his client. And to do that, he needed to openly challenge the alpha male and earn his approval by either becoming part of his pack and falling under his protection, or usurping him as the new alpha.

But he knew that to physically challenge the alpha male would do him little good. As the situation stood now, the Okinawan had people in his corner. People that Kyo had no doubt would jump into action should an outsider challenge the man. And Kyo feared there would be little the guards would be able to do if this were to occur. Kyo was outnumbered, and he doubted that the Ice Prince would do anything to intervene should things turn badly.

His options were limited here. But Kyo knew that something had to be done to address this matter.

"You know..." Kyo mused coolly to his competitor sitting on the table, his gaze never leaving that dark onyx stare. "I wish that everyone around here was as welcoming as you."

And suddenly, the entire atmosphere of the group changed. All eyes were on Akito, and Kyo knew that his words had been effective in drawing attention to the elephant in the room, so to speak. Even the legendary Ice Prince had been moved, his cold amethyst gaze sharply narrowing on Kyo before subtlety drifting to the man sitting next to him. Because everyone felt it. Everyone in the group knew.

A challenge had been made.

Now the ball was in Akito's court, and everyone in the group looked to the alpha male for a response.

"What are you getting at...?" This came a low murmur through that thick accent as Akito's gaze narrowed to these words and the underlying challenge they held.

"I think you know _exactly_ what I'm getting at." Kyo quipped, holding that predatory obsidian gaze. "You don't want me here." This challenge came boldly stated from his taut lips. "But..." He murmured, gauging the response of the alpha male as he voicelessly directed the actions of the group. "...the way I see it..." Kyo's words came paced and slow, washing over his captive audience. "...that's not really up to _you_...now _is_ it?" And he bared witness to how this fact effected the man, almost wounding him with the very truth and weight of it.

Slowly. Ever so painfully slow... That predatory gaze drifted to the side, away from Kyo's face. And the very moment the Okinawan had broken eye contact, Kyo knew that he had just established his dominance. The others would fall in line.

"Anyone that's willing to come here..." Kyo heard these words lowly uttered from thin lips in that strange drawl as Akito's gaze drifted back towards him. "...and speak on the behalf of any one of us..." He silently indicated to the pack that was no longer his. "...well...they're more than welcome here in my book, law man." With this reception and acceptance of his presence, Kyo felt the atmosphere of the group subtly change and relax from the constant tension that had threatened to bubble up at any moment.

As the group fell back into a buzz of lighthearted banter, Kyo spared one more glance towards his client, thinking that it would be best to finish their meeting at a later time. He had made the man privy to his plan of action. Other details of his client's appeal could be discussed another time. In the mean time he would enjoy this rare moment of being accepted and drawn into this tight knit group, feeling himself drifting along the current of various topics of conversation. A pleasantly calming experience he hadn't really expected in this harsh environment...until it was disturbed with the arrival of another outsider of sorts.

A newcomer to the group who had been viewing them from afar with a level of interest through warm brown eyes.

"Well, well..." This came low and sultry from lips producing a light whistle towards the group, drawing their attention to this stranger's approach before he claimed the seat on the other side of Kyo. "What do we have here?" The man murmured through an impish smile, that warm brown gaze drifting over Kyo's refined, suave appearance. "I didn't know they allowed conjugal visits on Death Row." That congenial simper of a smile turned just a bit foul in this insinuation towards Kyo's purpose here as the man finally extended his hand in greeting. "Shigure." The man finally introduced himself as Kyo avoided shaking this stranger's hand, though this rejection seemed to do little to deter him from conducting this somewhat intrusive conversation. "And you are..?"

Kyo remained silent to this query as he continued to take in and absorb this man's sudden and unexpected arrival. And by the way the group became just a little quieter, Kyo sensed he wasn't the only one to be taken a bit by surprise. It was clear that this man wasn't yet an accepted member of this small, tight knit pack. The man appeared to be in his mid to late thirties... _maybe_ early forties if Kyo had to guess without asking. Despite his slightly older age among the current crowd, he was deeply attractive in a startlingly off putting way. His handsome features seemed to _just_ begin to give themselves over to his age in the few rare, tell-tale stray gray hairs in his otherwise thick dark mane and the attractive wrinkles that formed themselves around his eyes when he smiled.

But his kindly, charming features and inviting smile seemed to be horribly marred by malevolence in the way he regarded Kyo through that warm brown gaze. A familiar predatory stare that _all_ of these men seemed to hold...yet Kyo felt that this stranger's gaze seemed to be laced with added sick and twisted intent. It left Kyo feeling slightly nauseous as he worked to avoid the involuntary shudder threatening to pass through his body under this man's ever watchful, scrutinizing gaze.

"So..." The man introducing himself as Shigure lulled through that off-putting smirk of his. "Which one of these lucky dogs has the pleasure of such an attractive gentleman caller?" Shigure chuckled out, completely unconcerned towards Kyo's lack of engagement in this one sided conversation.

"He's here on business." A voice not his own rose up on his behalf in a thick accent to confront this stranger's meddlesome line of questioning as Kyo's gaze drifted towards its source. "And...it seems to me that he's not all that interested in answering your questions, there. _Friend."_ Akito murmured, his dark orbs landing on Kyo only briefly before drifting towards this unwelcome guest.

And Kyo realized that Akito had purposely drawn undue attention away from him in engaging this stranger in conversation. Was it to reestablish his dominance in the pack? Perhaps, Kyo conceded. Regardless of its purpose, though, this action had an almost protective undertone as Akito stared the man down, holding that warm brown gaze with fierce intensity.

"Hm..." This passive hum passed through Shigure's lips in an _'is that so'_ tone as he smiled congenially towards the Okinawan. "That's an interesting accent you have there." He commented, eyeing the man across the table. "Not from the main land, are you." And Akito gave an amused smile in turn, lightly shaking his head.

"Okinawa Prefecture." Akito murmured lowly in that thick accent of his.

"Naha?" Shigure questioned, seeming to rather enjoy this light banter, and Akito gave another shake of the head in response.

"Nago." He corrected, starring the man down as Shigure's smile spread just a bit further in amusement.

"Damn." Shigure chuckled. "Should've guessed it was a bit further north." He lightly chided himself through that ever present smile of his. "Beautiful area." The man mused lightly. "I hear the bay's quite lovely." This complement seemed to cause the Okinawan's smile to twist down just a bit, pulling his lips into more of a frown of disdain.

"It _was_ a beautiful area." Akito conceded coolly, and the whole group braced themselves for what they all knew was coming. "...until you filthy _Japs_ ruined it." He spat, though the stranger across the table seemed unfazed by the Okinawan's blatant racism.

"Yeah." Shigure hummed happily through that smile, his warm gaze never deviating from Akito's dark penetrating stare. "We tend to do that." He agreed, and the group watched Akito absorb this tip of the hat to his argument as his rant was momentarily derailed.

"So..." Akito murmured lowly, a cynical smile replacing his frown. "...you know where _I'm_ from." This statement came heavy along his thick accent. "Tell me..." He queried as the group gazed upon the stranger under the spotlight. "...what's brought _you_... _here_...?"

"Oh, probably the same thing as you, I assume." Shigure lulled cheerfully in response, gaining a mirrored scowl of disgust from both Kyo and his client across the table.

Though the Okinawan seemed unmoved by the man's casual declaration.

"Doubtful." Akito countered with a small smile to the man. "So what's your crime, friend?" He questioned again, holding the man's warm gaze with his predatory stare.

"Murder." Shigure answered nonchalantly with that smile and a small shrug.

"Just one?" Akito quipped, earning a few low moans and snickers of approval from his cohorts at the stranger's expense.

"I wasn't aware that we were in a contest." Shigure mused to the man across the table.

"If you have a count of one, then we're really not." Akito offered up cynically.

"Really?" The man smiled, his lips curling into his cheeks towards some inside joke that only he was aware of as the pack continued to take in this conversation. "What makes you think that?" He asked with the cant of his head. "Is my count of one not impressive enough for you?"

"Should it be?" Akito scoffed in a low murmur.

"I should think so." The man's words came strangely self confident as the new comer to this group. "Considering my count of one brought me to the same place as you, friend."

"Hm...I suppose it did." The Okinawan conceded to this fact as the man continued to smile. "How exactly did you manage that?"

"Well..." Shigure's voice came chipper through a bubble of light laughter. "They happened to find my crime particularly heinous." His expression shaped itself in equal parts satisfaction and pride in this statement. " _Their_ words...not mine."

"What exactly did you do, then?" Akito asked in a level of intrigue to this information the man had so brazenly offered up.

And at this, the man let out a sharp chortle of laughter.

"Please." Shigure chuckled, though his jovial tone seemed somehow changed and diminished with this question. "Do I really look _that_ stupid to you?" The man quipped causing a bemused furrow to shape Kyo's features.

This stranger had spend so much time openly bragging about his singular accomplishment. Why was he remaining silent now?

"I'm not going to come out and just _tell_ you what I did.."

With this one statement, Kyo watched as Akito's striking features shifted violently before growing dangerously taut. And Kyo felt the whole entire mood of the group changed dramatically as the others seemed to harbor similar expressions.

"Well there's only one reason for that..." Akito's voice came in a dangerously low hiss of a whisper towards the man's silence. "Gentlemen." The Okinawan muttered darkly, gaining the attention of the pack. "I believe we have a baby raper on our hands." Kyo felt the sudden urge to become violently sick sitting so close to this man as the look in his warm brown eyes silently confirmed what the Okinawan had announced.

But it was Hatsuharu that was first to be moved by this revelation, quickly standing from his place on the table and behind Kyo's line of sight towards the stranger before Akito's voice manifested once more.

"Hatsuharu." Akito spoke authoritatively, halting the man as the two exchanged glances before dark orbs drifted back towards Shigure.

"Normally...at this point of the conversation...I would be far more polite, saying that it was a pleasure to meet you." He murmured through that thick accent and intense predatory stare. "But the only thing I happen to hate...even _more_ than filthy Japs..." Akito uttered, staring the stranger down as he spoke. "...are pedophiles. So...in _your_ case...I suggest that you leave." This came an almost feral, unrestrained snarl. " _Now._ "

The man gave pause to this demand, holding that penetrating black stare in challenge before he seemed to see something behind those eyes that caused him to move. Silently, he stood himself from the table, offering Kyo another charismatic simper of a smile and kindly nod of farewell before wordlessly departing the group. Though Shigure had left, the ripple effect of his presence upon the group had been so profound that it was still felt after he was gone. His stink lingered, changing the atmosphere and tone of what had been building into a strangely pleasant visit. His foul, putrid aura hung around them...and lingered.

Lingered...like the dark obsidian gaze that followed his departure from the group. Trailing his every movement before he finally disappeared from Akito's line of sight. Black orbs drifted away to meet a steely gaze as Akito exchanged a small, silent nod to the ox of a man who had seemed to make Kyo his new best friend, Hatsuharu, before the two of them stood from the table as well.

"You're leaving too?" Kyo asked, gaining his competitor's attention as the Okinawan stalked towards the two of them from across the table.

"Yeah." Haru grunted out, peering down towards Kyo from where he towered over him. "Seems like the party's over anyway." Kyo gave a small nod of agreement.

He felt the same.

"See you around, law man." This low murmur from the other side of him caused Kyo's head to tilt as he met the dark gaze of Akito.

Though these were the same exact words he had uttered in the open court yard, the Okinawan's farewell came far more cordial than the first time he and Kyo had parted ways. And Kyo felt that his presence was far more accepted now than it had ever been as Akito turned away with his companion, offering up a silent hand in a farewell gesture to Kyo as the two meandered through the communal cafeteria. Making their way through the crowd, engaged in a conversation with each other, Kyo saw the dark stranger manifest several tables down moving in the opposite direction. The almost gravitational pull of the head in the monster's direction, and dark pools zeroed in on him once more as the two slowly crossed paths from a distance.

"Counselor." The call of his title from his client's lips caused Kyo to snap his head from the unfolding scene.

"Hm?" Kyo murmured wordlessly in response as his attention caught up to his gaze, absorbing the grave expression shaping his client's features.

"I think it's time you leave, too." Yuki spoke, his features as taut and cold as the words that had left his lips.

"What?" Kyo quipped, his expression furrowing into a bemused scowl.

"You shouldn't be here." The man clarified frostily through thin lips held in a grim line.

"Like hell I shouldn't." Kyo uttered bitterly, exasperated by his clients unrelenting lack of respect laced in pompous, Machiavellian-like arrogance. "As your attorney I have every legal right to be here, Sohma-san." Cold amethyst eyes narrowed towards this reminder as the the man gave the infinitesimal, almost dismayed shake of his head.

"You _don't_ _belong_ here." This came even more harshly snapped through Yuki's lips, each word accentuated to make his point. "And you should be going now, counselor." Amethyst eyes drifted away into the crowd as that same cold voice manifested in the breath of a whisper. "...while you still can..."

Kyo's expression came perplex towards his client's cryptic statement. _'...while you still can...'_ These words left him so stunned that he was left momentarily speechless to a retort of any kind. Words failed him to even question his client as to what this could mean...until his gaze drifted through the crowd in tandem with the frigid stare of the Ice Prince. His client seemed so strangely preoccupied with the Okinawan. Ever since the man had left the table. And now, Kyo sat in silence with Yuki across the table, watching as the man stood above the communal cafeteria along the high-rise walkway leading out to other parts of the prison's interior. Slowly pacing. Surveying the sea of orange jumpsuits below with those black orbs.

"Too late." This came breathless from thin, bloodless lips. "Death from above." Kyo's gaze drifted away from Akito to narrow along his client.

"What?"

"Listen." Yuki whispered lowly, his eyes never deviating from the Okinawan's predatory movements. "When it happens, your first instinct is going to be to either run or intervene." He continued in hushed tones. "Trust me...you can't do _either_ of those, counselor."

"What are you even _talking_ about?" Kyo hissed just as quietly in growing vexation towards his client's mystifying behavior before he was hit full force with the weight of those cold amethyst eyes.

"You're not _listening_ to me!" Yuki snapped harshly in a low growl. "The guards won't be able to protect you. You're going to need to stay still." His gaze burrowed into Kyo. "To stay silent...until it's over."

"But you wanted me to leave!" Kyo quipped, his features crumpling into baffled anger.

"That can't happen now." Yuki whispered shaking his head as his gaze fell from Kyo's face to the table. "Not until it's over."

"What?" Kyo's eyes searched his client's face. "What's going to happen?"

Yuki avoided his gaze. Avoided his question...as Kyo's eyes finally drifted away and up. Towards what seemed to be the source of his client's concern. The Okinawan. And then...Kyo's gaze fell with the downward spiral of those penetrating black orbs. Down to where the dark stranger, Shigure, walked underneath the walkway below. Time slowed...in an almost surreal, impossibly dramatic fashion as Kyo watched Akito launch himself up and over the rail, violently landing on top of the monster.

And then there was screaming.

Kyo stood himself up from the table, only to be forced back down to sit by his client who had reached across the table to grab for him. The agonizingly slow crawl of time suddenly kicked into a fever pitch as bodies rushed to circle the man Kyo could still hear being beaten. Everything happened so swiftly as prisoners attempted to join in the beating and guards attempted to break up the riot and pull the attacker from the victim. And above all the noise and chaos was that screaming. Kyo tried again to move. To leave. But was once again held in place by the man across the table from him.

His body shook with the adrenaline coursing through his veins. His eyes dilated under the visual of orange and red. Dark red. His stomach churned with the knowledge of what that color was. What it meant. But he couldn't look away. Air rushed painfully in his lungs as Kyo began to feel himself starting to hyperventilate. But still. He couldn't force himself to look away. From the horror. From the violence. From the terrifying source of that awful screaming.

Sudden contact of cool, strong hands along either side of his face finally drew Kyo's attention away from the chaos. Amethyst eyes plunged themselves into his own wide eyed, owl-like gaze. Commanding his focus as those hands came to shield his ears from the horrifying noise. As the screams came muffled and blunted through the hands cupped along his face, Kyo found himself able to breath. Only just. But his body still shamefully trembled under the suddenness of this assault and how the guards had been helpless to stop it.

Yet in the very moment his client had physically reached out to him, Kyo felt a strange almost calming detachment from the chaos that continued to swirl around the two of them. Unintentionally, and quite by instinct, Kyo's own hands gravitated to this contact as his fingers wrapped themselves around Yuki's forearms to hold the man's hands in place over his ears. And the two simply stared at each other, breathing together. As one. Slowly, as air passed through Kyo's lungs.

The muddled screams buffered by hands finally died down and were swallowed up by the chaos that ensued immediately after as the Okinawan finally gave himself up to be forcefully ripped away from his prey. And what Kyo saw was unimaginably grotesque. The man's face and clothing were splattered and painted in red. The color horrifically smeared along his pale features and bright clothing. Yet his expression was completely calm. Unfettered, even, by the fact that he had just beaten a man to death with his bare hands as he was taken away to resounding whoops, howls, and the sound of elated cheers.

As Kyo was finally released from the grasp of his client, he felt the violent churning of his stomach as the world around him went into a wild, dizzying spin. Now permitted to leave the table, Kyo propelled his body away before the nausea took hold and he fell to his knees, becoming violently sick as he emptied the contents of his stomach.


	10. In The Absence Of Light

_'Hold on..._

 _...hold on..._

 _...hold on..._

 _Hold on'_

This couldn't be real.

It wasn't.

This...wasn't his life.

There was _no_ way that this unspeakable atrocity had just happened to him.

Not to him.

Not after everything else the fates had so cruelly forced him to endure up until this very moment.

Because...if it _had_...there was _no_ way that he would have actually survived the grotesquely horrific incident and lived.

But the harsh, noxious odor of antiseptic iodine solution that flooded his senses with the sharp, ragged inhalation of breath through his slender nose told him otherwise. That he was...in fact...still alive. Despite his very best efforts. Haunted, lifeless eyes of amethyst lingered along the fruits of his desperation and bitter despair. The sickening color of brownish orange stain bleeding through the white medical gauze wrapping both of his wrists as they rested palm up against the orange of his prison jumpsuit trousers. Furling and unfurling his fingers, skin and tendons painfully flexed against the sutures underneath the wrapping.

Pain.

There was _so_ much pain.

And this pain viciously mocked him, heartlessly laughing at his feeble, failed attempt as it reminded him of why he had been led to such extreme despair in the first place. His jaw clenched in almost visceral disgust towards the memory, causing the light tug of adhesive along the hollow of both cheeks. A shaky hand lifted up towards the bandage as long, slender fingers stretched out to run and lightly caress the length of his right cheek to the corner of his lip where the stitches underneath the bandage ended. The muscles of his jaw tensed and flexed against the sutures of his cheeks and tremble of his lower lip as his hand drifted back to his lap.

So much pain.

Pain...as he tightly clenched his hands into hardened fists. The tender inflamed skin of his bandaged wrists protesting along the stretch of his sutures.

Pain...as he curled and hunkered in on himself. His abdomen and diagram tightening to dangerously compromise his breathing.

Pain...as he squeezed tearless eyes shut and his mouth stretched wide open in searing agony against the sutures of his cheeks. His whole body violently tensing and shaking uncontrollably in a terrifyingly silent scream as absolutely _nothing_ came forth from his lips.

He was still alive. Even though the mere _memory_ now threatened to tear him apart from the very inside, he had survived. Survived...the brutality of a horrifically vicious attack he had endured at the hands of a group of prisoners only days before while completely vulnerable and defenseless in the communal shower. Savagely beaten, his body repeatedly and deplorably abused by one attacker after the other, he had been left barely breathing and physically marred along his face as a constant reminder of his place in this world.

Yet...he had survived.

At least in body.

He had survived.

Which had led him to where he was. Right now. Because his attackers had left him with the anguish and humiliation of this memory...and his life. So these past days had been spent in formulating a plan. Because he'd had nothing left in him, yet was cursed with the beating heart in his chest. A heart filled with more darkness and pain than anyone should have to bear. An inhumane, depraved heart that simply refused to relent and release his soul from the prison of his broken body. Because as soon as he had found resolve and means to take his own life by way of a makeshift blade to his wrists, he had been immediately discovered by one of the guards and his self inflicted wounds were quickly stitched and bound.

And his wretched life was spared again as he felt himself propelled into perpetual darkness.

...without _her_...

In the absence of her light, darkness began to prevail in his heart and in his mind.

And he began to feel it. That he was slowly and helplessly giving way to this darkness.

"Well well..." The strange lilt of a heavy voice drawled in slight amusement as Yuki was drug from these thoughts threatening to consume him, lifeless eyes of amethyst slowly lifting from the bandages along his wrists. "What do we have here?" Yuki's hollow, empty gaze met a fierce onyx stare as the man looked down on Yuki from where he sat. "Looks like you've seen better days." That dark obsidian gaze lingered along his face as Yuki's expression remained flat and void of emotion. "The name's Akito." The man uttered, crossing his arms along his chest with a smirk as he forwent shaking hands with the wounded prisoner.

"Yuki." His own name came muttered reluctantly from lifeless lips before the man let out a snort of laughter at his expense.

"I know who you are." The man drawled in a thick, heavy accent and a sardonic smirk of a smile. "Ice Prince." He spat this name as Yuki scowled towards the insulting tone. "Butcher of his own bride." This came uttered in the man's strange drawl as he gave the soft cluck of his tongue. "You _must_ have a heart of ice to have done something like that." This came followed by the small shake of his head and deprecating smirk. "Even through those unsightly bandages of yours," He spoke with the gesture of his head to the veiled wounds along Yuki's face. "I know you."

"You don't know anything." Yuki managed to counter this bitter defense, holding that dark onyx stare as the man gave himself over to a passive hum and the shrug of his toned shoulderline.

"We _do_ get the news in here." The man offered through the sardonic smirk of a side smile. "So I think I know enough."

"I didn't kill her." Yuki bit this out in an aggressive hiss between his teeth as the man's eyebrows almost shot up into his hairline in amusement.

"Oh, don't _tell_ me that's what you said to the judge and jury." The man barked out in his thick accent. "No _wonder_ you're in here with the rest of us, friend." He finally gave himself over to a small chortle of laughter at Yuki's expense.

"It's the truth, whether you choose to believe it or not." This fell cold and lifeless from Yuki's lips as his gaze drifted away from the man back to his wrists. "I didn't do it..."

"Oh sure...mm-hm..." The man nodded emphatically in mock agreement, keeping his arms crossed along his chest. "Because death row is _filled_ with innocent men just like you, hm?"

"Or like _you_?" Yuki spat, watching as the man's expression changed and subtly shifted with the sudden turn of this conversation.

"Don't compare _my_ crime to _yours_ , you filthy Jap." The man uttered this racial slur, the heat of his voice matching the fierce intensity of his dark foreboding gaze. "I _did_ what I did, make no mistake about that." His voice grew just a bit lower and more ominously dark as he spoke without remorse. "And I would do it again, because it was necessary to make my point." He took a threatening step forward. "Because blood, death, and extreme acts of violence seem to be the _only_ thing you filthy disgusting roaches understand!" The man finally unfolded his arms, muscles coming flexed and tensed as his hands clenched into tight fists. " _Never_ compare yourself to me."

The man's body language screamed menacing hostility and ill intent as he took another step forward. And Yuki found his arm unconsciously raised to instinctively shield himself in an almost pitifully submissive act of self defense. Akito stopped suddenly, his dark gaze taken in by the bandages as his expression relaxed some with the unfurling of his fingers and the smallest of sighs that passed through his nose. His stance calmer now, and far less menacing, Akito took a slight step back as Yuki's arm slowly drifted away and towards his lap once more.

A moment of silence followed as the two regarded each other before Akito's voice finally broke the quiet standoff.

"I'd tell you to watch your ass, my friend." He murmured with the small smirk of a smile. "But it seems that bit of advice might be coming a little too late." Lifeless, empty eyes drifted away in silence as Yuki avoided responding to this barb.

"May I see..?"

Amethyst eyes lifted towards the man's face as brows knitted together in slight befuddlement. But Akito's expression was calm and passive, his dark obsidian gaze eyeing the wraps along Yuki's wrists as he waited for a response. And Yuki held still for a moment, not entirely sure what the man was searching for.

What he wanted.

...what did he want..?

Akito made no further move towards Yuki, simply waiting in the silence that ensued as Yuki thought over this request. Slowly extending his arm towards the man, Yuki held his breath as Akito slowly approached and claimed his hand to turn it palm up. Black orbs took in and lingered along the bandage, trailing the length of vertical brownish stain seeping through where the wound had been saturated in iodine as he let out a low whistle.

"Well, shit." Akito murmured passively as he continued to stare at the bandage. "You weren't messing around, were you?" With that, Yuki slipped his hand from the man's grasp.

"No." Yuki uttered, his voice cold and frigid. "I wasn't." He acknowledged this truth feebly as he averted his gaze.

"Trying to run from your fate?" The man questioned as Yuki gave a bitter snort of a hollow laugh.

"I'm already sentenced to death." Yuki quipped sourly. "I wasn't _running_ from anything." To this he felt the involuntary quiver of his lip. "They should've just let me die and saved themselves the trouble." His gaze came so far off and distant in thought. "...why didn't they just let me die..?"

...oh, how desperate this desire was in him...

To die.

"Well _that's_ simple." The man murmured, having made himself more comfortable in this conversation as he leaned himself against the nearby wall and folded his arms to his chest once more. "You're thinking about this all wrong. That your death sentence is the punishment that the courts handed to you." This came with the soft cluck of the tongue. "But it's not." Akito lulled in that thick drawl as he continued. "Death isn't your punishment, my friend." This came with the pointed stare of those black orbs. "Because death in and of itself is deemed far too merciful for your crime." Lips came twisted in a small, knowing smirk. "What this so called justice system wants...is for you to suffer before they legally terminate your life at a time of _their_ choosing. And the truth of the matter is that there is nowhere else on earth you could _possibly_ suffer more than right here." The smirk playing along his lips now formed into a full fledged smile towards Yuki. " _That's_ the real punishment, my friend."

"...but..." Yuki breathed as his brows furrowed under the weight of Akito's words. "...the end is the same." His lip trembled as he clenched his fists, feeling the stretch and searing pain of his stitches. "Whether they take my life...or..." His gaze lingered along the wrapping of his wrists, unable to finish the death wish lingering just on the tip of his tongue as the silence that followed was consumed by the softest of sighs.

"Believe me..." The man murmured lightly, offering final words of bitter consolation. "It's very rarely considered justice when you take matters into your own hands."

* * *

 **A/N: Wow. Three months since the last update on this. Good job, me. Way to go. I want to say thank you all for continuing to follow this story. And, I'm happy to say, I am feeling it coming to and end. Soon...ish...**

 **Also, my sincerest apologies for all those I psychologically scarred with the last chapter. Honestly...I apologize for this whole story, really. It's pretty much all just terrible. But you guys keep coming back for more, so I feel obliged to provide you beautiful masochists what you want. It's the least I can do...**


	11. Smoking Gun

**A/N: Okay. So...I've been going through some of my work (old and current) and have noticed that there are still some common errors that I make. But as the great Jackie Chan does all his own stunts, so do I perform all my own editing. I'm just that badass (and have yet to doop some poor sap into becoming my editor). Needless to say, having done this exercise, I have developed an even _deeper_ appreciation and form of humility towards your constant, loving support. Thank you. All of you. Thank you to all who have reviewed, favorited, and followed this (and many others) story.**

 **And as a side note, I would like to dedicate this particular chapter to SweetLiars who, despite my violent dislike of Kyo, continues to be a constant companion to me and this story. Thank you, my friend. This chapter is for you. Kyo included...free of charge.**

 **Reviewers:**

 **SweetLiars**

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* * *

 _'Hit it, never quit it_

 _I_ _have been through the wreck'_

 _His heart beat so furiously in his chest. He could hear it. His heartbeat. It sounded like a panicked animal caged inside of his chest, trying desperately to get out. To escape this impending sense of dread and danger. It sounded like blood. And death. And terrified horror._

 _...it sounded like..._

 _...sounded...like..._

 _Fear._

 _He was afraid. For his safety. For his life. His breath came so heavy and ragged from his lungs. And it sounded so muffled and close to his head. As if something had been placed over his ears, simultaneously muffling the sounds around him while causing his own breathing to become so very loud in his own ears._

 _The muscles of his throat and chest clenched and tightened, dangerously compromising his breathing. And he wanted to run. No. He **needed** to run. He knew it. And as if to confirm this flight response, another sound all together began to manifest._

 _And...he **knew** what that sound was._

 _It started lowly, at first. Low, and muffled, in a smothered moaned whimper. And he felt his breath hitch towards the sound and become even more labored as his heart now slammed itself against the very confines of his chest. Praying to God in heaven to save him, he knew what that sound was._

 _It was the sound of a man..._

 _...dying..._

 _As it built upon itself in volume and intensity, he knew that he needed to run away. Before it happened. He needed to get away. But his body was so helplessly paralyzed and held in place. By something... Or someone... And that ghastly smothered sound grew into a scream. A terrifying, agonized, bloodcurdling scream. The scream a soul made when being ripped and severed from the body._

 _'...Kyo...'_

 _The sound of his name came close to his ears. In a whisper. But it did nothing to pull him away from this terror. And that incessant, unrelenting shrieking._

 _He felt the warmth of damp wetness along his skin as tears began to trail their way down his cheeks. He knew that he crying, but he was so helpless to stop it. To stop the tears. The trembling of his body. And that scream._

 _'...Kyo..?'_

 _More than anything, he wanted the screaming to end. But in wanting the sound to cease, he knew he was simultaneously wishing for the man's death. Because...he knew...that only in the man's death would that terrifying sound end._

 _But he wanted it to end._

 _All of it._

 _He wanted an end._

 _Willing his body into motion, he desperately tried for an escape. To obey every fiber of his being that was screaming at him to flee. To tear himself away from this horrifying sound. But as he attempted to move his paralyzed body, he felt his shoulders suddenly grasped by hands that seemed to come from nowhere. Holding him in place as his body violently struggled against the unknown._

" _ **Kyo!**_ "

Eye's violently flew open and Kyo's muscular torso flexed, retching and jerking itself from the bed as a frightened gasp pulled itself into his lungs. His muscles trembled and quivered, his skin puckering against the sudden cool sensation along his damp flesh from the sweaty sheen that covered him. Drawing labored breath into his lungs, Kyo attempted to settle himself within the dark silence of his bedroom as he curled into himself, hanging his head between his knees.

And again...a hand tentatively reached out for him as fingertips made tender contact along the cool flesh of his bare back.

"...Kyo..?" His name came uttered softly in trepidation.

"Hitomi." He managed through a breathless sigh along the darkness as the tiny hand of his girlfriend sought out his larger one in the bed.

"You were screaming in your sleep." She whispered to him as her hand gently squeezed his in comfort.

That certainly explained the sensation of searing fire lining his raw, dry throat.

"Are you okay?" This question came murmured lightly as Kyo gave himself over to another small, cleansing sigh through his nose.

"Yeah," He cleared his throat, finding his words. "I'm fine. It was just a bad dream."

"Want to talk about it?"

Memories of the dream fueled by what he had witnessed in the prison rushed through Kyo's mind as he gave the light shake of his head to this question.

"No." His voice came low and soft as he squeezed the hand that had sought him out in the darkness. "Not really." He admitted this before letting go of his girlfriend's hand to distance himself.

There was no reason to burden her with this darkness. He could handle this alone.

"I'm sorry I woke you up." He murmured this as his fingers ran through slightly dampened bed head.

"It's okay." The soft tenor of his girlfriend came filled with tenderness and a level of concerned worry. "I had to get up for work anyway." And with this Kyo gave a silent nod as he slowly slipped his form from the warmth of their bed.

"I'm going for a shower." He said as he made his way to the bathroom, not wanting to risk falling back to sleep.

...not wanting to risk having another nightmare...

"Please don't do this, Kyo..." This came a soft whisper that halted his steps to the bathroom as he hung his head, not wanting to turn around and see the expression along her face as she stared at his back.

"Do what, Hitomi?" He asked, his voice low in the quiet of their room.

"Distance yourself from me." She whispered again, and just at the sound of her voice he could tell the expression of pain and hurt etched along her attractive features. "Whatever it is you're going through." Hitomi's voice floated to his ears, laced in worry and desperation. "You don't have to go through it alone." These words held such fragility. "Let me in, Kyo." She implored. "Please don't distance yourself and shut me out."

Kyo gave himself over to another small sigh as he squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head.

"Really, it's nothing." He murmured in an attempt to sooth the woman he loved and cared about.

Cared about...and didn't want to hurt.

Loved...and would do anything in order to protect against the very real evil and ugliness of this world. Even if that meant protecting her from himself.

"It was just a bad dream, is all." He worked to make his voice as calm and nonchalant as possible as he continued on his way to the bathroom in silence.

Running the shower as hot as he could stand, Kyo hung his head to allow the water to run down his back and ease his thoughts. Wash away these violent memories that plagued his mind and haunted his dreams as of late. That left him feeling so very weak and powerless.

He had witnessed a man murdered right in front of him...and had been completely helpless. And that feeling of complete and utter powerlessness had been slowly eating away at him for weeks now. It had been a little over a month, and he still couldn't bring himself to return to the prison to see his client. Of course, he had kept himself preoccupied with the case. But whenever the thought of going to speak with Sohma Yuki about the progress he had made crossed Kyo's mind, he always seemed to find another lead to busy himself with.

Hearing the unobtrusive sounds of his girlfriend entering the bathroom, Kyo simply squeezed his eyes shut, facing the water as it washed over his face like cleansing rain. Soft, quiet rustling came just barely above the water before he heard the light swish of the shower door being slid open, then shut. Soft fingertips gently caressed themselves down along the wet flesh of his spine in an intimately familiar touch. And his head hung just a bit lower as his brows knit together under the emotions that washed over him. Turning towards the source of contact, Kyo's gaze fell into a deep ocean of warm brown.

Hitomi tentatively reached out, the tips of her fingers stretched as they made gentle contact, tracing the lines of Kyo's face as they trailed the length of his jawline. That touch was all it took, and Kyo gently tugged her wrist, wrapping his toned, masculine arms around her thin, crème frame as he pulled her naked body closer to his own. Coaxing a small giggle from her enticing lips, he carefully and quite effortlessly lifted her to maneuvered her underneath the torrential downpour of the shower. As her slender fingers caressed the nape of his neck, His own fingers gently ran themselves through her soaked hair as his lips met hers in equal parts affectionate adoration and needy desperation. And without question or even a moments hesitation, she responded in kind with a desperate hunger as her lips parted to deepen the kiss and allow his tongue entrance into her mouth.

The rest of the morning was spent in a fragile silence as the two sat at the small coffee table of their even smaller eat in kitchen. They wordlessly shared a modest breakfast of coffee and wheat toast before Hitomi left the apartment for work...both unwilling to admit the danger of having left the problematic events of this morning unaddressed in lieu of making love instead.

...and nothing more was said of Kyo's nightmare _or_ his reluctance to speak of how it weighed heavy on his mind.

Wandering the apartment in silence, clothed in a pair of basic gray sweat pants and one of his old University tee shirts, Kyo set about readying himself to work from home. Though a rare occurrence, Kyo found the flexibility of being able to work anywhere he needed to be useful. Grasping the pack of cigarettes from the small kitchen counter, Kyo found himself lifting the whole pack to his mouth as he fished one out with his lips. Hitomo disliked that he smoked in their apartment, so he made it a point to do this rarely. Out of respect for her wishes. But with the instant cathartic rush of nicotine that flooded his system as he lit the cigarette, Kyo knew that this vice would be sorely needed to sharpen his focus for this morning's endeavors.

Setting the pack of cigarettes back where he had found them, the one he had claimed dangling from his lips, Kyo gathered the stack of files from the counter next to the pack as he moved through the small kitchen back to the table where his latest cup of coffee waited for him. Spreading the manila files along the small coffee table, Kyo plucked the cigarette from his lips, a breathless sigh of smoke passing through his nose as he settled himself with reviewing the latest information that had been released to him from the prosecution. Though the law entitled him to any and all information that the woman possessed on this case, Kyo found that obtaining each and every piece of evidence and shred of information from the prosecutor had been like pulling teeth.

 _Nothing_ about this process had been simple or straight forward.

The prosecutor.

The defender.

The family.

Or even his own client, for that matter.

Somehow, he actually understood the opposition from the prosecutor. He was, after all, attempting to systematically disassemble and break apart her case.

...but...the lack of involvement or cooperation from his client's previous defender was still unsettling to Kyo.

Surely Akiyama-san and the head of Sohma Company understood that exonerating Sohma Yuki from such a heinous crime would relieve some of the scandal still blackening the company and family name. The more he continued to question this, the less this seemed to make sense. And the more it bothered him.

Sifting through the latest information the prosecutor had provided to him, Kyo took another drag of his cigarette before placing it to rest in the ashtray on the table as fingertips grasped the quickly cooling coffee next to him. He read through the reports...now years old...filed against his client during the time period when the man had been briefly detained in America before being extradited to his native country for public trial. And the information provided in these reports was minimal at best. But with these reports came the same, graphic photographs of the crime scene. Though Kyo had seen these and similar pictures before during this appeals process, the horrific sight still made his stomach churn.

...and he found that he simply couldn't fathom the type of monster able to commit this kind of gruesomely barbaric atrocity...

But this information gave him a fresh focus...and yet another reason to avoid and postpone another trip to the prison. All he needed was a little more time.

...a little more time to sift through the evidence in order to find some sort of proof of his client's guiltless innocence...

…just a little more time...to settle himself and make sense of what he had experienced the last time he had seen the Ice Prince. Because...despite the endless lies he had continued to feed himself over the previous weeks...Kyo knew he still wasn't quite ready to return to the prison.

...not yet...

Flipping through the reports Kyo found that there wasn't much there that he hadn't already been made privy of. Which wad disappointing, to say the least. Picking up what was left of his dwindling cigarette Kyo took a drag of much needed nicotine before a contemplative sigh passed through his nose. Perhaps...if he went directly to the source...he might find what he was searching for.

Something...

... _anything_...

In a decisive move, he stood from the small coffee table of his kitchen as he went to retrieve his phone. Grasping the cellular device, Kyo made his way back to the endless supply of legal documents spread along his coffee table. Cigarette gracefully dangling from his lips, Kyo proceeded to dial the long distance number of the local precinct that had acted as first responder in this case. As the phone rang, he plucked the dwindling cigarette from his lips as a curl of smoke made its way past his lips. His eyes glued to the papers before him as a crackled voice came through the other end of the line.

 _'NYPD. How may I direct your call?'_

Kyo quickly scanned the documents before him as he searched for a name to give to the disembodied voice.

"Officer Michael Fitzpatrick." His own voice fell so strangely monotonous in a heavy, thick Japanese accent through the phone as the other line gave pause to transfer him.

 _'Detective Fitzpatrick.'_ This came through the receiver as Kyo faltered a moment over the foreign language and unexpected change in title.

"Michael Fitzpatrick?" He questioned, sifting through the name provided on all of the police reports...now years old.

...perhaps the names and information were just as outdated...

 _'Yes. This is Detective Michael Fitzpatrick.'_ The deep, crackled disembodied voice confirmed as Kyo worked to absorb this language. _'Who is this?'_

Taking pause to mentally translate and respond to the question, Kyo cleared his throat before regaining a more professional tone.

"I am the legal representative of Sohma Yuki." Kyo introduced himself, his English coming rudimentary, yet formal. "I sent a request of information to your office, and I have questions about the the Sohma-Honda murder case." His eyes continued to sift through the various reports as he took another drag of his cigarette before snuffing it out in a funeral of smoke and ash. "You were the lead investigator in that case, yes?"

A moment of silence briefly fell along the moment before it was claimed by a soft, crackled sigh from the other end of the line.

 _'...yeah... I was.'_ This came almost reluctantly in confirmation. _'What exactly is it that I can help you with, counselor?'_ The question seemed less than amiable, but Kyo quickly brushed off this subtle hostility in favor of conducting business and gathering some much needed answers.

"In your report, you seem quite adamant that this was foul play." Kyo spoke, but before he could continue, the disembodied voice cut him off.

 _'_ _ **You**_ _saw the crime scene photos, right?'_ The detective questioned coldly as Kyo furrowed his brows to the case notes.

"Hai." Kyo's words momentarily slipped into his native tongue. "...I did..."

 _'And you_ _ **don't**_ _think it was foul play?'_ The disembodied voice quipped bitterly at being questioned as Kyo's scowl deepened.

...had he been allowed to finish his thoughts...

"But you never explored potential suspects _other_ than my client?"

 _'There_ _ **weren't**_ _any.'_

"I'm reading your report, detective." Kyo's voice came professional, but stern in reproach to this statement. " _You_ never _looked_."

 _'The case was clear cut.'_ Detective Fitzpatrick countered defensively through the other line. _'The bastard had his wife's blood_ _ **all**_ _over him. And there was_ _ **no one**_ _else there.'_ The disembodied voice continued in self defense. _'_ _ **All**_ _the evidence pointed to him.'_

Before Kyo had the opportunity to counter with the lack of a murder weapon and circumstantial nature of the evidence against his client, the disembodied voice continued.

 _'...besides...'_ This came along a breathless, crackled sigh. _'When your government filed for jurisdiction and took over the case there wasn't any further investigation that I could do.'_ The man seemed almost irritated over this, and Kyo began to sense that some of the detective's hostility towards him was territorially driven. _'The case was quite literally taken out of my hands.'_

Kyo took another moment to absorb this latest information, shuffling the documents in hand as he calculated his next course of action. His next line of questioning.

"So..." He murmured into the receiver. "You were the first to arrive to the scene?" Kyo asked in order to confirm the information before him and gain some clarity.

 _'Yeah...I was.'_ The voice came gruff and crackled.

"And you responded to a complaint from the room next door to the crime scene?" He queried, thoughts spinning as he pieced this puzzle together.

 _'That's what my report says...'_ The disembodied voice confirmed in mild irritation. _'Shouldn't you already have all of this?'_ Detective Fitzpatrick questioned through the other end of the line. _'My office already sent my report to the prosecution.'_ He stated this fact bluntly. _'Miss Kagawa should have gotten all of this information years ago.'_

"I'm not with the prosecution..." Kyo retorted flatly.

 _'Don't_ _ **tell**_ _me you're actually planning to defend this bastard.'_ This came harshly snapped through the receiver.

"Gomen." Kyo uttered a bit sarcastically in mock apology. "Privileged information, detective." A smirk laced his lips as he heard a crackled sigh from the other end of the line before he continued with his questioning. "So when you arrived, you were able to question this witness who called your department?" He asked, having been unable to verify and confirm whether the police department had actually been able to contact the initial witness from the scant documents he had been provided with from the prosecution.

 _'Actually...'_ The disembodied voice came almost apprehensive over the receiver. _'...no...'_ Detective Fitzpatrick muttered with a level of chagrin. _'When we arrived to the scene and apprehended the culprit, I went to the surrounding rooms and they were all vacant.'_ He admitted.

"You couldn't locate them?" Kyo asked in genuine bafflement, his brows furrowing as he listened to the voice on the other line.

 _'No.'_ The detective confirmed coolly. _'They were adamant about remaining anonymous when they called in to report the disturbance. From the statement they gave, it sounds like the argument became pretty heated.'_ This came lowly muttered in consideration as the disembodied voice continued. _'I imagine when we arrived they didn't want to become further involved in the situation and stick around for questioning.'_

"Were you able to get a phone number?" Kyo asked, his mind wildly turning and spinning with further questions.

 _'Of course.'_ This came a bit derogatory and snide, as if the man had felt insulted by this question.

"Then I'm going to need that to follow up with questioning." Kyo murmured professionally as he quickly grasped a pen in preparation for jotting down this latest information as the detective gave the number.

And Kyo's brows arced in surprise at the strange familiarity as he quickly made notes of the digits provided by Detective Fitzpatrick.

 _'But I wouldn't bother with following up, though.'_ This cautionary suggestion came through the crackled hiss of the receiver.

"Why is that, detective?" Kyo asked dubiously, making a mental note to disregard this suggestion and call the number anyway.

 _'Because...'_ This came lowly muttered through the other end of the line. _'...when I called that number to ask the witness to come in for questioning, it had been disconnected.'_ The detective spoke matter-of-factly. _'It's a dead end, counselor.'_

But as Kyo thanked the detective for his time and concluded the phone call, his mind reeled against this latest lead. Because in this disconnected number, Kyo sensed he had just found his smoking gun.


	12. As Long As We Both Shall Live

**A/N: Thank you all for your continued support of this story! As well, a hearty thank you to GalaxyVisionary, for the significant and all important Fortieth review of this story, as well as the last chapter. As her concept of Kyo in her work of art "No Strings Attached" was a significant influence on Kyo's character development in the last chapter of this story. And also, thank you to Amethyst Creates for recently following and reviewing this story! I'm always humbled and more than happy when a new member hops on the band wagon! Until next time!**

* * *

 _'And honey I only appeared so I can fade away.'_

Throughout his life...he had stood in front of many important people. Engaged some of the most well-to-do, high standing businessmen of Japan. And met with some of the country's most well known and respected names and faces.

But _none_ of those encounters had _ever_ left him as nervous as he felt right now.

...or as excited...

His heart and stomach were simply bursting with a feeling he'd never quite experienced before. A deep, genuine exhilaration and zest for life. For the first time since his father had passed away and he had been left alone with his mother, he felt _truly_ alive. No longer did he feel suspended in a state of perpetual sameness. Locked away in a world of cold, stark, black and white absolutes.

Finally...he actually _had_ a future.

And that future had color and fire.

Meaning and purpose.

Love and passion.

And a level of closeness and intimacy he'd so desperately craved as a child.

Everything he had ever only dreamed of and never thought he would experience first hand.

Yuki had taken the first bold, daring step towards staking a claim on this future when he had asked for Tohru's hand in marriage. Despite harsh backlash and opposition to his proposal. And when she had said yes...

When she had said yes...she had given him a gift so precious beyond measure.

She had given him a purpose.

A reason... _finally_...to live. To really and truly _live_. And not just go through the motions in a numb stupor, desperately wishing for something more.

And today...with this marriage...Yuki was declaring to himself, the heavens, and earth that his life was finally his own. His alone...and no one elses. All those in attendance would stand witness to him taking back his life in this decision to wed the woman he loved and never again, from this day forward, endure having to walk this world alone.

As he lingered with these thoughts in the thrum of prenuptial festivities that swirled and buzzed around him, a high trilled voice broke through his musings as his brows shaped themselves in a disgruntled scowl.

"Yuki!" This boisterous greeting came hollered in an almost sing song tone through the large gathering of guests as Yuki took in the spectacle his older brother was making of himself.

"Aya..." Yuki deadpanned flatly as the man made his way through the crowd with a glass of champagne in hand.

And Yuki fought against an audible groan towards his brother's choice of attire for this celebration. The man had adorned his tall, lean frame in a loud, flamboyantly ostentatious number...his outfit holding an almost traditionally oriental flare. With the man's wildly eccentric nature and boisterous personality coming in such startling contrast to his younger brother's more reserved, and meticulously polished presentation it was often difficult to tell that the two were...in fact...related.

"My my! Look at _you_ , little brother!" Ayame trilled happily in his deep, almost effeminate lilt. "You look so dashing!" He appraised with an approving eye towards Yuki's tuxedo. "Though I really _do_ wish that you would have allowed me the honor of creating a true masterpiece for you on your special day."

"No thanks..." Yuki drawled monotonously, knowing what little he did of his brother's so called clothing business causing him to be skeptical of anything the man would design for him.

"Pity..." The man frowned before his exquisite features shaped themselves into an almost theatrical expression of delight. "But speaking of a true masterpiece," He trilled ecstatically as he continued to hold on to the glass of champagne with a delicate touch. "I _just_ so happened to lay eyes on your stunning bride!"

"Aya..." Yuki's scowl deepened towards these words.

"Okay, okay!" Ayame quipped with the dismissive, almost flamboyantly graceful wave of his hand. "So I may have purposefully snuck over to the bride's chamber to gift her with a present from her new brother-in-law."

"I thought I told you not to bother her when she's getting ready!" Yuki's scolded tersely, his voice and expression stern as he chastised his older brother.

"Nonsense!" The man chirped exuberantly with the wave of his hand and that winning smile. "I couldn't _possibly_ be bothering the sweet woman! Tohru-chan absolutely _adores_ me!"

"She likes _everyone_ , Aya!" Yuki grumbled harshly with that same stern scowl furrowing his youthful features.

If Yuki were honest with himself, the precarious, newly rekindled relationship with his older brother still wasn't exactly a close one. But...it was far closer than it had been in years. And he knew that he had Tohru to thank for that. Though he knew in his heart that the two of them still had such a long ways to go in repairing all of the damage caused through bitter resentment and sense of abandonment, Yuki begrudgingly found himself grateful for the opportunity to create a fresh start with his older brother.

"Come now. Can you really blame me for having wanted to take a stolen glance at the fair maiden?" Ayame retorted with a happy grin. "You've found yourself such a beautiful princess, brother, I was simply compelled to gaze upon her beauty before the ceremony." He mused to himself with the soft cluck of the tongue.

"Besides..." Ayame continued, seeming completely unfazed by the disapproving expression held by his brother. "I had a feeling that she would be in dire need of a bridal garter as unique and rare as she is..." The man smiled whimsically to himself as he held the glass of untouched champagne with a delicate grasp. "Of my own design, of course. My wedding gift to your precious budding flower."

"I also took the liberty of leaving her with _your_ wedding present from myself and Mine as well..." The whimsical smile along his lips came just a bit mischievously wry as his gaze finally met Yuki. "But I'm afraid you won't be able to fully enjoy it until after the ceremony and festivities." And with a cavalier smile and wink from his brother Yuki felt his jaw go slack in an uncharacteristic show of utter shock.

" _Aya_ you _didn't_!" Yuki hissed.

"You'll thank me later little brother, when you've finally experienced the magical romance of your wedding night!" Ayame trilled happily as Yuki felt the heat of embarrassment creep through his neck and cheeks.

"Tell me you're joking!" Yuki hissed in almost helpless dismay towards his brother as the man let out a loud guffaw of laughter in response.

"Then tell me that you're blindingly drunk, Aya! Please!" Yuki demanded in the face of his brother's laughter. "Because that's the _only_ reasonable explanation I can think of for you to have done something so completely embarrassing!" He hissed, willing himself not to publicly throttle his older brother over having gifted his new bride with hand crafted lingerie.

"Oh good _heavens_ no!" The man shook his head, flamboyantly waving away this accusation with his free hand. "I haven't had a drop to drink." He hummed before absorbing the dubious, soured look upon his little brother's face towards the lingering drink in his hand. "I stole _this_ from catering...for _you_..." Ayame's smile warmed as his expression became genuinely tender towards his little brother. "I thought it might help you with any nerves over your big day." He gingerly handed over the glass of champagne. "A sure remedy for any pre-wedding jitters, hm?" Yuki's earlier horrified irritation seemed momentarily washed away with this small, thoughtful act of kindness.

"...thank you..." Yuki murmured lightly, taking the glass from his brother to free the man's hands as he clasped Yuki's shoulders.

"Now, as your elder brother, I demand that you drink!"

...and just like that...the moment was gone as another irritated scowl shaped Yuki's features.

"Aya..." This came in an irritated whine of protest.

As if to quite this irritation, hands moved from his shoulders to the sides of his arms as Yuki was met with such a strange expression from his brother. One that made the man look somehow older, filled with a sense of wisdom Yuki hadn't known possible for his brother to display as the man's voice manifested in a low, soft lilt among the buzz of conversation surrounding them.

"Listen, Yuki..." Ayame murmured quietly, meeting a gaze of deep amethyst as he spoke. "I know I haven't always been there for you...but...I'm here now." He whispered lightly as Yuki absorbed these quiet words of consolation. "And...I want you to know that...for what it's worth..." The man faltered a moment on his words as Yuki found himself deviating his gaze from the suddenness of these displayed emotions from his brother. "I think Father would have been so proud to see this day. And how you've finally become your own man." And with the silent nod of Yuki's head and a shuddered breath from his older brother, Ayame sought to dispel this awkward moment with more outlandish humor at his brother's expense.

"Now, drink!" Ayame chirped as long, slender, well manicured fingertips graced the circular bottom of the champagne glass to coax it up to Yuki's lips.

"Aya, _stop_ it!" Yuki quietly hissed, the scowl once again set firmly along his youthful features, making him appear the older, more responsible of the two.

"Well _this_ seems a familiar sight." The two heard this softly chuckled intrusion into this little moment of theirs.

"Tashi-san!" Ayame chirped exuberantly, clasping his hands together as he offered the man a broad, dashing smile. "It's been _ages_ since I last saw you!"

"And yet it seems you haven't changed in the least." The older man mused with the soft rumble of his deep voice as he appraised Ayame's flamboyant appearance.

"Mm, so everyone keeps telling me." Ayame chortled happily in response, sounding almost proud of this fact before another, calmer voice tugged along the man's attention.

"Tadashi..." Yuki murmured softly, his expression calm and schooled as he gazed towards the family's lawyer. "I'm glad you're here." And the man gave a small nod of the head with that gentle, warm smile of his.

"I wouldn't have missed this occasion for the world, child."

"So..." Yuki began hesitantly, his gaze holding tentatively along the man's face in search of the answers he wasn't sure he wanted. "...does this mean that Mother's decided to come as well?" And with the makings of a grim expression and small shake of the head, Yuki's gaze finally drifted to the ground as he absorbed this response.

...so...his mother really wasn't coming...

And though this came as no surprise to him...Yuki found himself wishing that things were different. If only for Tohru's sake.

"I'm truly very sorry..." Tadashi began before he was quickly silenced in his tracks.

"Please..." Thick lashes fluttered close with the soft shake of his head as Yuki uttered this, his tone cold and now completely frozen over as his free hand came gracefully poised to halt the old man's condolences. "Don't bother apologizing for that woman." This came so stoically monotonous with the smallest of exasperated sighs. "Really..." Yuki's eyes fluttered open to regard the man before him with that cool, amethyst gaze. "...it's fine."

And he attempted to settle himself with the fact that maybe things really were better this way.

"I should leave you two alone to have a moment." This came softly murmured to dispel the weighted silence that had befallen what should have been such a happy moment as Yuki's gaze once again shifted to his older brother. "I need to find my wedding date anyway." Ayame murmured in the deep, yet effeminate lilt of his voice. "Yuki..." He nodded politely, his expression having grown just a bit older and more world weary with the turn of this conversation as he made a tactful retreat.

"Ayame...?" Yuki's reserved tone beckoned the man's attention as he began to leave.

"Hm...?" His other brother paused in his departure as the two held each other's gaze.

"Thank you..." Yuki murmured, his tone humbled and sincere as he spoke. "For coming today." And with this, a soft, genuine smile came to grace the man's lips as he gave a small nod.

"Thank you for inviting me." Ayame murmured, his voice filled with a level of warmth and gratitude towards this gesture from his little brother as he once again turned himself to depart.

"And leave Tohru alone until _after_ the wedding!" Yuki scolded towards the man's back. "I mean it, Aya!" And to his horror he watched as the grown man practically pranced in the exact direction of the bride's changing room in the wake of boisterous, jovial laughter.

"Okay!"

"Aya!" Yuki hollered before the man disappeared completely out of his line of sight and he found himself given over to a helpless sigh of resignation as the long slender fingers of his free hand came to delicately pinch the bridge of his nose in a show of exasperation. "Lord, give me patience to avoid severely maiming him before this day is over..." This prayer came bitterly muttered under his breath before being overtaken by a string of goodnatured, throaty laughter towards his irritation.

"It's good to see the two of you finally getting along."

"I wouldn't exactly call it that, Tadashi." Yuki grumbled before taking a dainty sip of the gifted champagne. "But..." He gave another small sigh of consideration through his slender nose as he spoke, his gaze remaining forward. "...I suppose things _are_ getting... _better_...between us. Slowly." He murmured before taking another sip of the drink. " _Very_ slowly." And another soft chuckle of empathetic understanding came in response to this admittance.

"That is a start, child." The old man murmured in a deep rumble as Yuki gave a small nod.

"I suppose so."

This followed a comfortable blanket of silence between the two as they people gazed together, the number of quests steadily increasing as the approaching ceremony grew closer.

"There's something I'd like to talk to you about..." The deep rumble of Tadashi's voice gently dispersed the lull as he continued to speak. "...before the moment escapes me."

"If it's a discussion about the birds and the bees..." Yuki murmured with the makings of a wry smile. "I think you might be a little late, Tadashi." And the man simply had to give himself over to a helpless chortle of laughter and the small shake of his head as Yuki himself gave a softer smile to the moment.

With the lack of a proper father figure or male role model in his more impressionable years, Yuki had suffered finding out everything he _hadn't_ wanted to know about sex from his close friend and 'best man,' Kakeru Manabe.

...in the sixth grade...

"I'm afraid I would be ill suited for that conversation anyway, child." The old man conceded with another laugh before giving himself over to a sigh to steady his amusement at the boy's cheeky antics.

"I know that I could never be a replacement for your father..." The man murmured lowly as his voice somewhat sobered the tone of this tender moment. "But..." Tadashi continued, his words slow and pensive as he spoke. "I've always tried my very hardest to do what is best for you...and this family."

"I know, Tadashi." Yuki whispered this quietly as his gaze drifted from the wedding guests to the ground.

"I really hope that you do, child." Tadashi responded quietly in a deep rumble. "So that one day, you might see the wisdom in what I say to you now." And with these fateful words he passed the young man something that had gone unnoticed until now as Yuki's expression shifted from brief bafflement to anger.

"Tadashi..." Yuki growled in a low hiss. "I thought I told you to destroy this."

"I know that you did, child." Tadashi conceded as he watched the young man's fingers grip and curl into the paper document. "And I _promise_ you...this is the _only_ copy of this document in existence." He murmured lowly to the prenuptial agreement in Yuki's hand. "All others _have_ been destroyed. Just like you asked."

"Then _why_ , Tadashi?!" Yuki hissed, gritting his teeth in curbed anger. "Why give me this?" The hand grasping the offending document began to tremble. "On my _wedding day_."

"As a favor to your mother, child." The man murmured solemnly in response to Yuki's outrage. "She knows that you will not change your mind about the marriage. So...she asked me to speak wisdom and reason to you." This came with the infinitesimal hang of his head as his gaze shifted from the guests to the ground below him. "For the best interest of you _and_ this family... To see if you might reconsider having your bride sign it before you wed."

"So..." Yuki's voice came low and bitter in a breathless whisper of resentment as he finished what was left of the champagne glass in one hard swallow, causing a small grimace to shape his boyish features. "... _that's_ why you came today, then?" He asked, not risking meeting the man's gaze. "Simply to give this to me? Hoping that I would change my mind?"

"No." The deep rumble of Tadashi's voice followed the shake of his head. "I gave you that to appease your mother in hopes of making a peaceable bond between the two of you in this matter." He admitted this before his gaze lifted from his shoes to take in the young man's stoic expression. "But...I came here today for _you_ , child." The man murmured honestly. "To celebrate and stand witness to this special day." A small smile graced and softened weathered features as he spoke. "As I told you before, I would not have missed this occasion for the world." These words were absorbed in a wake of silence as the two regarded each other for a moments pause.

"...thank you, Tadashi..." Yuki murmured this lowly as his gaze averted from the man next to him. "Truly. I'm so very grateful and honored that you've come today." His voice came feather light in genuine gratitude to the man's presence and show of support towards this union. "And I know that Tohru will be just as happy as I am that you're here for the two of us." The hand grasping the prenuptial agreement drifted limply to Yuki's side as he continued. "But Mother already has my answer on this matter..." His voice dropped just a bit lower along the buzz of nearby conversations. "...as do _you_." That amethyst gaze met Tadashi with the fervor and intensity of his words.

"When I take my vows at the alter, there won't be a single piece of myself that I'll keep from her, Tadashi." He slowly handed the old man the offending legal document as Tadashi held his gaze. "And that included my money...whether Mother approves of that or not. My decision on the matter is final." And with these words, Tadashi claimed the prenuptial agreement form Yuki's grasp, his expression growing grim.

"You're certain of this, child?" He asked, his gaze held intently on the young man.

"I am."

"And you really trust your woman this much..?" He questioned with the deepening furrow of his withered features.

"I do." Yuki nodded, his voice soft yet confident in this declaration. "More than anyone I've ever met, Tadashi." His tone grew in seriousness along the gravity of this moment. "I trust Tohru more than I trust myself..." He murmured along the briefest pause before continuing. "I trust her with my life."

"Well..." This came lowly rumbled through Tadashi's deep voice. "I certainly hope you know what you're getting yourself into, child. I'd hate to see you rushing into something you're unprepared for..."

"Please, Tadashi." Yuki murmured this softly, his voice tender with the smallest shake of his head. "Have you ever known me to _rush_ into _anything_ without giving it full consideration first?" And another chortle of light laughter followed this statement.

"No...I suppose not." Tadashi admitted.

"And this is no different, Tadashi." Yuki whispered, his gaze holding steady as he spoke. "I love her... And I've never been more certain of that fact as I am right now. Besides..." Another small, wry smile laced his lips as he continued. "...what could possibly go wrong?"


	13. In The End

_'But I can string enough to show my face in the light again'_

Sitting himself silently on the stiff metallic, cafeteria-style bench, the small manila folder in his hand made its way to the vile lime-green table top. Again, he was forced to sit and stare at that putrid, stinking color. A color he came to associate with many unsavory things.

Rot.

Gangrene.

Death...and decay.

The color of it fit. And...he absolutely _hated_ it. _It_... _and_ this place. Even here. In the visitor's center, a safe distance away from the population of inmates and convicted felons. Even being here felt like he was still too close. Though he kept a calm, stoic facade as he lit a cigarette to entertain himself while waiting, the hand holding the cigarette gave itself over to an infinitesimal tremor. A small, subtle...humiliating sign. And a slow curl of smoke crawled itself past his lips before being sucked back in between his teeth and pushed through his nose.

Even now...he felt too close.

Gently tapping off the excess ash into the tray provided on the putrid looking table, another sigh separated itself from him before his attention was pulled towards the approaching convoy of armed guards. And in the center, bathed in orange and metallic silver shackles...the one he had come to see. Though...unlike the time before. The _first_ time. Kyo didn't stand to greet them.

...to greet _him..._

Kyo averted his gaze, as best he could, through the abrasive metallic sounds as the guards chained and anchored his client steadfast to the visitor's table. The bright orange of the man's prison suit violently clashed with the green of the table, and Kyo remembered now how the disturbing color pallet had first made him feel so very ill. So he turned away from this...and the man's face... Kyo couldn't quite bring himself to look his client in the eye.

Not after what had happened.

After he'd run away.

What was worse was the fact that, as he took a drag of his cigarette to avoid the man's gaze, Kyo could still feel his client's cold stare lingering upon him. And being this close...Kyo began to remember all over again. What it had felt like, having his client hold him in place...while it happened.

...what it had sounded like...

"Sohma-san." Kyo murmured this greeting through the awkward clearing of his throat as he kept his focus along the manila file he'd placed on the table.

"Counselor." The low response to Kyo's greeting parted the man's lips, causing Kyo's gaze to finally lift to meet empty amethyst in return.

The two simply stared at each other, silently regarding one another as the small veil of smoke from Kyo's cigarette came between them. And the further Kyo delved into his client's eyes, the more unnerved he became.

The man just _stared_ at him.

"What?!" Kyo snapped lowly, attempting to be discreet with his anger in front of the guards while becoming irked with his client's silent staring. "If you want to say something," He felt himself growing strangely self-contentious under that unnervingly cold amethyst gaze. "then...just come out and _say_ it, already!"

"...like what..?" This came a straight faced deadpan from his client's lips, earning a slight scowl as he held that cold lifeless gaze.

And Kyo simply couldn't believe it.

Was the man _trying_ to goad him into admitting he should have listened?

That he had been wrong to argue and stay.

...was...he _really_ that cruel..?

"I..." Kyo paced himself, averting his gaze once more as he took a drag of his cigarette. "I should have listened to you..." He murmured this lightly through a thin cloud of smoke that was dispersed with the small sigh that followed. "When you told me to leave." His gaze finally lifted to his client, meeting that cold gaze and impassive expression as his own features hardened with his next words. _"That's_ what you want to tell me... _isn't_ it?" Kyo's tone came slightly defensive in accusation as he held that lifeless gaze.

"Actually..." Yuki mused through the small purse of his lips that accentuated the scars along the hollow of his cheeks. "I was really hoping I could get one of those from you..." His eyes indicating the cigarette held poised between Kyo's fingers as Kyo gave a small flash of embarrassed surprise before a silent nod followed.

Fishing out the pack of cigarettes he had brought with him, Kyo extended it in silent offering to his client. Absorbing the sickening sound of metal scraping against metal, he watched his client's bound hands reach over the table as slender fingertips gratefully took one from the package. Leaning forward as far as the restraints would allow him, Yuki took a satisfying drag of the cigarette as Kyo lit it for him.

...just like the first time they had met and begun this odd tradition...

"I honestly didn't expect you to come back..." Yuki offered up this melancholy admittance with the shake of his head and drop of his gaze to the table, a small whisper of smoke gently pushing itself through his nose as the cigarette came poised between his fingers.

Though Kyo felt a twinge of remorse at not having returned to see his client sooner, he easily brushed this sentiment aside for a feeling far more comfortable to manage as he took another drag of his own cigarette before a sardonic smirk laced his lips.

"You know..." Kyo quipped caustically as his client took another slow drag of the cigarette poised between his long, slender fingers. "It's okay to say that you missed me." The smoke curled its way past Yuki's lips in a slow lazy crawl as he met Kyo with a dead stare and unamuzed expression.

"I didn't." This came a flat rebuke as he held Kyo's gaze. "..but..." The faintest twitch of a smirk tugged along his scarred features as he spoke. "...Haru does..." The smile crept infinitesimally further along his lips as they met the end of his cigarette in a lover's kiss and brief pause before he continued. "He simply won't stop asking me about you. And frankly, it's becoming a bit annoying" Yuki prattled on casually, as if this conversation was completely normal and in no way out of the ordinary.

Just two people catching up.

Because...neither one of them wanted to admit that Kyo's absence had been a cause of concern.

...so...they didn't.

Not in so many words.

"Yeah, well..." Kyo murmured through a pensive drag of his cigarette, deciding to go along with this more indirect form of acknowledging the underlying concern over his absence that both men seemed to be more comfortable with. "...you can tell Haru that I'm doing alright."

Yuki gave a small, silent nod.

"He'll be happy to hear that, counselor." He conceded quietly, his eyes averted to the table as he spoke. "He's grown quite attached to you." And Kyo couldn't help the small snort of laughter laced in cigarette smoke.

"Nah." Kyo shook his head, taking another quick drag as that same smirk played along the corner of his lips. "He just likes making me look like an ass."

"Well there _is_ that..." Yuki conceded flatly, earning another sharp snort of laughter.

"Yeah," Kyo chuckled in amusement. "there's that." This came echoed with the dismayed shake of his head before the two fell into a comfortable silence.

"And..." The softer tone of this whisper came to disperse the silence that had befallen them as Kyo finally pushed the manila folder across the putrid looking table. "...there's this, too."

That cold amethyst gaze regarded the folder in veiled curiosity before bound hands holding the cigarette awkwardly flipped the file open.

"This is the original police report from my case..." This came lowly murmured in a cold, flat tone as Yuki scanned the document, lacing his lips with the dwindling cigarette as Kyo snuffed out his own and discarded the spent end in the ashtray along the table.

"Yeah." Kyo let out a final sigh of smoke with the small nod of his head. "It is."

"The prosecutor gave this to you?" This question came quietly murmured through lips laced around his cigarette.

"Mm-hm." Kyo gave a small hum of concession as he watched his client read through the report. "Though she seemed to take her sweet time in getting that to me."

"I began to wonder why it was that she'd want to drag her feet on _this_ report. So I followed up and did a little digging of my own." He murmured a little smugly. "On a hunch." This caused those lifeless amethyst eyes to finally lift from the police report.

The two simply stared at each other for a moment. Remaining silent, save for the various, muffled sounds occurring and swirling around them. And this rift that had been caused by Kyo's words seemed to grow as they held each others gaze...before Yuki spoke.

"... _what_ hunch..?" Yuki asked with the quirk of his eyebrow.

And Kyo couldn't help the self righteous, smug expression that shaped his features as he gave himself over to the smirk of a smile.

"That you're actually telling the truth." This sarcastically pithy response was met with a frosty, unamused expression from the otherwise silent, legendary Ice Prince.

"And..." Kyo continued a little more seriously, holding his clients cold, stoic expression. "...if you're telling the truth... That you didn't kill your wife." He murmured lowly with a tone of professional discretion. "Then that means someone _else_ did." This followed the slow, pointed nod as the two held each others gaze for a moment.

"You know..." Kyo muttered a little darkly. "...ever since I took this case, things just haven't added up." He cast his gaze to the disgusting table in contemplation. "Something's just felt... _off._ Like something's missing...and I haven't been able to place my finger on it." Kyo mused to himself before his gaze lifted from the table. "Until now." A small, unassuming piece of paper came slid across the table.

"What's this..?" Yuki asked, snuffing out his spent cigarette before gingerly fingering the offering, reading the line of numbers scrawled in his lawyer's handwriting.

"Something that _wasn't_ in that report." Kyo stated bluntly as his client lifted his gaze from the piece of paper.

"That..." Kyo paced himself as he held Yuki's gaze. "...is the number the police department traced." He watched his client's expression furrow imperceptibly. "The anonymous caller that phoned in the alleged domestic disturbance...just before the murder."

Kyo watched his client give a double take of the number with fresh eyes before his perpetually stoic expression gave itself over to the first signs of life. Of feeling. And as their eyes met once more, Kyo saw that this information left a ripping wave through that mask of ice.

"But..." Yuki's voice manifested a cold breathless whisper. "...this number..." He hesitated lightly along his words as his eyes flitted between the piece of paper and Kyo's gaze. "It's."

"Yeah..." Kyo nodded through the silence that befell his client. "I noticed that, too." The two continued to stare at each other as he continued. "It's not _any_ one of the numbers assigned to the hotel you had been staying at." He murmured this a little more quietly, his expression falling stoic along the gravity of this information. "In fact...it's not an _American_ number at all."

"Kantō Region?" Yuki asked about the origination of this phone number as Kyo gave a nod.

"Tokyo Prefecture."

The two fell silent along the seriousness and severity of what had just been discovered before Kyo spoke again.

"I got this number directly from the police officer that had been in charge of the initial investigation." This came with the wry smirk of a smile. "The guy was an even bigger pain in the ass than the prosecutor."

"...really..." This came deadpanned towards Kyo's less than professional expression of amusement at having mentioned the arresting officer.

"Oh yeah." Kyo's tone came completely caustic, laced in snark. "He's _still_ completely convinced you're guilty as Hell."

"Is that so?" Kyo saw the way the legendary Ice Prince now fought off a bitterly amused smirk of his own.

"Mm-hm." Kyo gave another nod. "Even had the gall to tell me that calling that number would be a complete waist of my time." The smirk tugged a little further along his lips as he spoke. "Of course I thanked him for his time...then called the number anyway." And Kyo now let the smallest snort of a chuckle escape him towards the conversation he'd had with Detective Fitzpatrick. "Like hell I'm going to let him tell me what to do."

"...and..?" This came murmured through an impassive tone laced in veiled interest as Kyo gave a small grunt with the shrug of his shoulders.

"He was right." Kyo offered this as he absorbed the softest of sights that emanated from his client. "It was disconnected when I called. Just like he said." This came laced in a level of dissatisfaction to this fruitless effort. "It was a dead end."

Those last two words hung in the air with such weighted, somber silence. A silence...that stood witness to this meeting. And these two...little words.

Dead end.

"So..." Kyo heard this pulled from thin lips held in a taut line of deep disappointment. "That's it then." And these words felt so very much like the end of the line.

"Well no." Kyo murmured with the small shake of his head. "Not exactly." His eye met that same, lifeless stare as he held his client's cold amethyst gaze. "Whoever that was." The tap of his finger along the piece of paper indicated the anonymous caller. "They were _there_ that night." He spoke these words slowly in a paced tone. "They _know_ what happened." His expression grew ever more serious as he continued, looking into Yuki's eyes. "And even though this never made it into the initial report, there's _no_ way in hell that the prosecutor _didn't_ know about this." They held each others gaze as he looked intently upon his client. "She _knew._ " And amethyst eyes widened to this revelation.

"The prosecution has a duty to disclose exculpatory evidence." Yuki echoed in hollow monotone from the well of knowledge he'd gained through his years of imprisonment as he gazed upon the incriminating number. "Evidence favorable to the defendant in a criminal trial that exonerates or tends to exonerate the defendant of guilt." And Kyo gave a wry smile to his client's reference to the law at the two shared a look of understanding.

"And you best believe I nailed her ass to the wall with that."

"But it's not enough..." Yuki uttered monotonously with the shake of his head as his gaze came downcast to the table and file contents.

"To catch the bastard who actually did this?" Kyo questioned rhetorically. "No." This query came self answered with the shake of his head. "No, it's not. Not _yet._ But..." His voice trailed lightly after the next item to be placed along that putrid table. "It's at least enough for this." And an unimposing envelope was pushed across the void between them.

Yuki grasped the thin, plain envelop with bound hands, his long, thin fingers laced around it to retrieve what was inside.

A single piece of 100 percent, cotton bond, white loose leaf paper.

And a moment of silence befell the two men as Kyo watched his client unfold to slowly read and absorb the words printed along that single sleek sheet of paper.

"A stay of execution..." This came uttered from his lips as Kyo nodded quietly.

"Yeah." He murmured just as lowly as his client continued to gaze at the legal document. "The finalization of the appeals process will take some time...so as of this afternoon they'll be transferring you out of here to a minimum security facility until the process is complete. But...as of today..." Yuki's gaze lifted from the document to meet Kyo's words. "...you have your life back."

...

Stepping through those prison gates felt so surreal. As if walking through a dream he'd had so many times before. Waiting...for the inevitability of waking up.

The gentle breeze along his face...

The sunshine.

Of course he had felt these things before. Many times. Even while he had been imprisoned. But...if he were brutally honest with himself...he had lost all hope a long time ago of ever experiencing these things again. Like this.

Free.

That single word still felt so foreign to him. Like the suit he now wore instead of the orange uniform he had grown so accustomed to.

Complements of his lawyer.

"Hey." This low murmur drew his gaze from the distance ahead of him as that cold amethyst gaze drifted to the side towards the man walking up to him.

"Hm..." Yuki gave a light, passive hum towards Kyo's approach. "Speak of the devil..."

"What?" Kyo gave the cant of his head and a small scowl towards his client's greeting.

"Nothing..." Yuki murmured coolly. "I was just thinking about you, is all."

"Well _that's_ not at all creepy." Kyo deadpanned flatly with the quirk of his bow towards this offhand comment, and Yuki gave the almost uncharacteristically sardonic roll of his eyes before they landed on his attire.

"This really wasn't necessary, you know." This came a soft whisper as those long, slender fingers lightly plucked at the suit jacket he was currently wearing.

"What?" Kyo muttered. "Not fancy enough for you?" He quipped as his client's gaze remained downcast with the small shake of the head.

"No." This came another breathless whisper. "It's fine." Yuki kept his gaze averted as he fell silent for a moment.

If he were willing to be honest with himself and admit the truth...he actually liked the suit. Quite a bit. It was reminiscent of the style and taste he'd once had. But...with his time spent in captivity...it had been so long since he had experienced any form of generosity. Or at the very least, generosity without the expectation of something given back in turn.

And the feelings that this gesture stirred in him were something he felt himself uncomfortable with.

"Thank you..." Yuki finally murmured quietly to dispel the growing silence, still avoiding his lawyer's gaze. "...for the suit." And Kyo simply gave a nod of recognition in response before coming to stand next to him, wordlessly offering him a token cigarette.

...probably the last these two would ever share...

"Well..." Kyo paced himself with the drag of his cigarette. "I figured you wouldn't have much when you got out." He offered in response with a small shrug. "Besides." A small smirk began to lace his lips as he spoke through a veil of smoke. "I just really couldn't handle the idea of seeing you in that disgusting orange jump suit again."

A small snort of amusement came forced through Yuki's nose with a puff of smoke as Kyo's smirk only widened with this response.

"So..." Yuki murmured impassively, releasing the cigarette from his lips with a sigh of smoke. "I kept up on current events before my release." Fingers laced and gingerly held the cigarette as he finally met Kyo's gaze. "It seems you've made quite the name for yourself with my case. I suppose congratulations are in order." And he watched in slight satisfaction at the slow, self-contentious burn growing along his lawyer's neck and cheeks.

"Yeah." Kyo muttered, now casting his own gaze to the ground as his hand rubbed along the back of his neck. "Thanks, I guess."

"You know, counselor..." Yuki murmured through the drag of his cigarette in consideration of his next words. "If it weren't for the fact that we'd met on such impossibly terrible terms in the absolute _worst_ of circumstances..." He exhaled slowly, dispersing the smoke around him as he stared off in the distance at his freedom once more. "...and that you're now using my personal tragedy to your advantage in furthering your career," His gaze finally met Kyo as the two stared each other down. "I might actually like you." This admittance caused Kyo to let out a raw, bitter, sardonic snort of amusement.

"Yeah well..." Kyo muttered lowly, his own cigarette held poised between his fingers as he held that frigid amethyst gaze. "Maybe if _you_ weren't such an arrogant son of a bitch who was planning on being so completely ungrateful for my unpaid services _after_ I pretty much single-handily saved your sorry ass..." He looked away as he took a pensive drag of his cigarette, a sigh of smoke escaping him through his nose as he quickly reconsidered what he had been about to say. "...well, no..." He shook his head. "...not even then."

And to his complete and utter astonishment, Kyo watched as the man beside him began to laugh. Giving himself over to this jovial show of amusement towards Kyo's snarky retort as his head came hung and his shoulders shook. His lips spread in a smile that tugged along the scars of his cheeks before he managed to reign in and temper his amusement with a sigh.

"Feeling a little unappreciated, are we?" This came with a small, wry smirk and pointed raise of the brown in question.

"Well...a 'thank you' wouldn't hurt." Kyo quipped.

"Thank you."

These two little words hung in the air for a moment, lingering softly along the warm breeze that tousled Yuki's hair as thick lashed fluttered against the sensation along his skin. And he relished this moment. This feeling. Until the sound of Kyo's voice gently dispersed the silence.

"So what are you going to do now?" Yuki opened his eyes to this question, taking another drag of his cigarette as he mulled it over and pondered it for a moment before answering.

"I told you before..." He murmured this lightly through a breath of smoke, his gaze forward as Kyo took in his pensive features. "...there is absolutely _nothing_ out here that I care about." This response came so strangely forlorn, leaving Kyo at a loss for words as he simply listened. "I mean no offense." Yuki continued, taking another drag of his cigarette as he thought over his words. "And I really don't mean to sound ungrateful. I truly don't." His voice grew lower and lower into the faintest whisper of smoke. "...but...all of this just feels so..." He gave a small pause, his brows furrowed along his thoughts as he spoke. "So meaningless."

Kyo didn't feel insulted. Angered. Or slighted in the very least. Because...strangely...he found that a part of himself understood this sentiment. The same side of himself that had empathized with the haunting question his client had once posed to him on their first meeting...and his brother after that.

 _What do you do when you lose your sense of purpose?_

 _When that person is taken from you... what do you become then...?_

"You have your life..." Kyo finally murmured in calm response as he took a final drag of his cigarette before snuffing it out with the sole of his shoe. "And there's nothing meaningless about that." He offered up this consolation as his gaze drifted towards his client once more.

"Do you love her..?" Yuki asked in a hollow, monotonous tone, continuing to stare off into the distance with that cold, haunted gaze as Kyo's brows furrowed in confusion.

This question came so offhand. So strange.

What exactly did he mean by that?

Who...was he referring to?

"What?"

"Your girlfriend, counselor." Yuki clarified in the lightest whisper of smoke. "Do you love her?"

"Yes." This answer came so naturally to him as he thought of Hitomi.

Yes...

Yes, he loved her.

"Then marry her, counselor." This came blunt in a firm, yet impassive tone as Yuki finally dropped his spend cigarette to discard it along the ground beneath his feet before his gaze landed on Kyo. "If she's that precious to you, show it. Let her know. Marry her." That cold amethyst gaze flickered with a myriad of emotions that seemed to war with his perpetually stoic expression. "If you truly love her, then she deserves nothing less than that."

This profound statement came so sudden, and so very unexpected. With such force. Kyo felt himself hollowed out and completely numb. After everything the man had been through. Everything he had seen and endured.

After everything he had lost.

He still held such fierce faith in this ideal.

Love.

As Kyo watched his client turn away towards the public transportation that had been called for and provided to him, he finally found the words that desperately needed to be spoken.

"Somah-san."

This call caused Yuki to slow his approach to the vehicle, halting his departure as his back remained to Kyo. Listening.

"I'm not going to let this go." Kyo's voice came firm as he spoke to his client's back. "I'm going to do _everything_ I can to make sure that the authorities find the person who killed your wife." His words came strong in their conviction as he witnessed the almost infinitesimal hang of the man's head. "I won't give up until it's over. You have my word."

The two stood in silence for a moment. Kyo staring at the man's back. Yuki's gaze cast to the ground. His body so very still, turned towards the vehicle. This moment held such tender vulnerability. Such human fragility. And a level of raw honesty that neither one seemed sure how to absorb and handle. So...they remained silent in each others presence, until three small words came uttered in a faint, hollow whisper.

"Thank you, counselor."

And just like that, the moment was gone. Along with Sohma Yuki as he ducked into the back of the vehicle. Leaving Kyo in the wake of silence that followed as the car slowly disappeared off into the distance.

* * *

 **A/N: First off, thank you all so much for continuing to follow and support this story, my beautiful children. You never cease to humble me. Never. And this... This...is the second to the last chapter. Which means the next chapter after this...will be the epilogue. The end. The grand finale. And, honestly, as thrilled as I am to be able to bring an end to this particularly long running story... Well...I have to admit that I think I'll be just a bit sad, too.**

 **On another note. I have to give a special shout out and thank you to GalaxyVisionary for a rather amusing end to her last review of chapter 12. And...I simply had to add the words here that made me smile. Because...it somehow fits this story in a strange way. Thank you, my friend. For everything. _" He [Yuki] will not be judged by color of his hair or the femininity of his features, but by the content of his character. Free at last. Free at last. HE WILL BE FREE AT LAST. #Freetherat #Staywoke. Yes, I love you enough to use hashtags. Deal with that, woman! :p"_**

 **And, as an amusing side note, here are a few things I found and was inspired by in regards to this particular chapter. Remember, kiddies. Always site your sources.**

 **Per the _Brady v. Maryland_ decision, prosecutors have a duty to disclose exculpatory evidence (Exculpatory evidence is evidence favorable to the defendant in a criminal trial that exonerates or tends to exonerate the defendant of guilt. It is the opposite of inculpatory evidence, which tends to prove guilt.) even if not requested to do so. While the prosecution is not required to search for exculpatory evidence and must disclose only the evidence in its possession, custody, or control, the prosecution's duty is to disclose all information known to any member of its team, e.g., police, investigators, crime labs, et cetera.**

 **-Wikipedia**

 **"You know, Jacob, if it weren't for the fact that we're natural enemies and that you're also trying to steal away the reason for my existence, I might actually like you."**  
 **"Maybe...if you weren't a disgusting vampire who was planning to suck out the life of the girl I love...well, no, not even then."**

 **-Edward Cullen and Jacob Black, "Eclipse" p. 503**


	14. Epilogue: And Justice (for all)

**A/N: My children. This chapter brings us to the end of this story. Finally. At long last. It is over. And I find myself with mixed emotions over this piece. A part of me is beyond estatic to see it to its end. Finally. But another part of me feels just a bit sad for it to be over. Like an adult child finally leaving the nest to go out into the big wide world.**

 **And through this whole story, almost two years in the making, from its birth in September of 2015, I have never ceased to be in humbled awe over your guys' unwavering support. Those who supported this story from its very beginning to this end. Galaxy Visionary. Thank you for being the very first to review. And those who had so graciously supported this story when it was already nearing this daunting finish. AmethystCreates. Thank you for being unafraid to read a tale that had already been so far into the story line and plot. And those of you who endured my many quirks and somewhat violent tendencies. SweetLiars. Thank you for constantly encouraging me to write for a character that I care so little for. And to those who...quite simply...make me look** ** _really_** **good. Fandom Angst. My other half. The darker part of me. Thank you for your continued friendship and support, and your amazing knack and ability to unwittingly give me** ** _really_** **bad ideas. Also...thank you for providing my reviews with some class and flare, along with a little 'colour' with your European spelling.**

 **And to all of you who have so graciously given of your time and effort in not only reading this story, but also offering your thoughts and words of encouragement. Thank you.**

 **Shinnie**

 **EyesThatShine**

 **purpleradiance**

 **Kon13**

 **And lastly, but by no means least in importance, thank you to all who supported this story from the sidelines by reading and adding it or myself to your favorite list. You too, have my gratitude.**

 **Okay. To avoid making this author's note even more unbearably long, on a final note I would like to say that this last chapter will break the pattern of present, flashback, present, flashback, and be in the present to end the story. That being said, it is also split into four separate parts. Please feel free to let me know if this format is too confusing so I may be able to avoid it in the future. So without further ado, here is the long awaited conclusion of 25 To Life And Death Row.**

* * *

 _'And I could just die laughing on your spiral of shame'_

The sound of metallic scraping and jostling could be heard through the otherwise eerily silent home before the door gave way to the person outside. Letting him in. Allowing him entrance into what he had _assumed_ to be complete darkness.

Because...

He had expected...

That he would be alone.

Cautiously crossing the threshold into his abode, he found himself more than a little confused at the faint light cast through the otherwise darkened space. Emanating from a small room just beyond the foyer. His private study. From a small side table lamp that he _knew_ he hadn't had the chance to turn on himself...

Because he had only just arrived back from the day's demands.

Reaching for his phone, the man readied himself as best he could for any sort of encounter as he slowly and quietly moved down the hall towards his study. Though burglary was extremely rare in this prestigious neighborhood, it certainly wasn't unheard of. As he clutched his phone with an old, craggy hand, he wondered if the culprit had already taken their leave. Either forgetting or having not cared enough to turn off the light.

What had they taken?

Were they still here?

Lingering just beyond the entrance to his study, the man gave pause. Wondering if he should call the police first instead of walking in on his own. Weighing his options, he figured that, at best, this was merely a mistake of his aging memory. That perhaps he had left the light on this morning by mistake.

These things happened.

And, at worst, his home had been ransacked and he would need to take stalk and make a detailed list of what had been stolen from him.

Either way, he rationalized with himself that the call to the authorities could wait until he fully assessed this situation. So, gently pushing the door to his study open, the man braced himself for what lay just beyond in the shambles of his study. But to his surprise and stunned confusion, the room lay in absolute pristine condition. Not a thing touched, from the books shelved along the wall to the meticulously stacked documents along his desk. Everything seemed to be right where he'd left it. Save for his luxurious leather desk chair, which had been turned around to where the high back faced the desk and the seat turned to the study's large bay window.

Giving himself over to a sigh from the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, the old man shook his head. He had always prided himself on his sharp intellect and clear mind. With a small twinge of chagrin, he shamefully admitted to himself that this could not always be the case. There would come a time where his memory would fail him, and it seemed as if those days were approaching much sooner than he would like.

Pocketing his phone and stepping lightly through the threshold of his study, the man went about his business and made way to rectify his mistake of leaving the light on. But as he crossed over into the room, he was taken aback by the faintest whisper of a ghostly sigh...

And the manifestation of a cold, monotonous, disembodied voice thereafter.

"Welcome home." This chilling greeting came from just beyond his lavish desk as he stilled into a horrified daze, his eyes listlessly searching for the source of this invisible intrusion. "I've been waiting for you." These words were uttered in a soft, delicate, yet lifelessly hollow deadpan. "So take a seat, Tadashi..." His name came crisp and sharp like the edge of a deadly blade.

Rational thought seemed to escape the man as he watched the office chair slowly swivel of its own volition, only to be confronted with a malicious, cold amethyst gaze. His head spun in time with that chair as his chest sharply constricted around his rib-cage in response to the phantom that greeted him.

Yuki was seated in Tadashi's decadent office chair behind the man's lavish desk. Clothed in a fashionable, finely tailored business suit. Like one of the many he'd adorned so long ago. His legs came crossed at the thigh in his crisp trousers as he casually reclined in his newly acquired thrown, using delicate hands to claim both armrests. Long, slender fingertips gently thrummed a quite beat along the leather, like the march of beating drums heralding an execution. And for this singular moment in time, Yuki completely dominated the room with his presence, narrowing his cold lifeless gaze almost imperceptibly towards Tadashi's open shock.

"...Yuki..?"

With the breathless sigh of this intruders name the man sank almost helplessly to the small sofa behind him, his expression bleached of color as he continued to wordlessly gaze at the one now occupying his desk chair. The two regarded each other for only a brief moment before Yuki's cold, impassive expression gave way to mild amusement towards the old man's befuddled state. With the quirk of his brow, the faint ghosting of a smirk began to tug and play along the corner of his lips.

"Good heavens, man," Yuki exclaimed quietly, his eyes ogling the man's expression as that smirk pulled a little further along the scarring of his cheeks. "what _ever_ is the matter with you?" His brows furrowed in an attempt to feign mild bafflement of his own towards Tadashi's reaction to his presence. "You look as if you've seen a ghost."

"What are you doing here?" Tadashi quipped harshly towards the way he was now being toyed with as Yuki gave the soft cluck of his tongue in disapproval.

"Now that's a bit hurtful." Yuki mock scolded as he held the man's gaze with that relentless stare of his. "After all this time, I'd thought you would be happy to see me." His features fell slightly along infinitesimal disappointment. "But you don't look happy at _all_ , Tadashi." Yuki's voice never faltered or deviated from that eerily calm, monotonous tone.

Like the pendulum's swing of the executioner's blade.

"In fact..." His cold amethyst gaze mercilessly narrowed on the man before him. "...you look quite fearful." This came accusatory from his lips before he pursed them in consideration with the small cant of his head. "Now, why would _that_ be..?"

Tadashi swallowed hard against this question in an attempt to regain some composure and control of the situation at hand as the gentle, unnerving beat of fingers finally came to stilled silence.

"I don't know what you mean."

" _Oh._..but I think that you do." This came to swiftly counter the man's response in a quiet, soft, yet frigidly unforgiving tone as Yuki held the petrified man's gaze.

"You know..." Yuki paced himself in hushed tones, in a voice that came as ice. "...with all of the press and scandalous controversy over my victory and release," He murmured quietly in consideration, his eyes never deviating from Tadashi's weathered features. "I had just assumed you would be expecting this."

"Why would I have expected this?" Tadashi questioned in fearful confusion. "What are you going on about, child?" The furrow along his already heavily creased brow deepened as he asked again, weakly. "Why are you here?"

And for the first time since revealing himself, Yuki's gaze slowly floated away from Tadashi, releasing the man from his hold as he gave pause and silent consideration to this question before responding.

"You put on a good show, Tadashi." This came uttered in a lifeless deadpan. "You really do." Yuki's gaze lingered along the fine grains of Tadashi's desk as he spoke. "Acting as if you _truly_ have no idea." His voice lingered on the verge of a wordless whisper, like a thought brushing up against a sigh. "But..." Yuki paused a moment, his gaze once again claiming hold of his unsuspecting host before his voice dropped just a bit colder to chill the entire space surrounding them with his next accusatory words. "I think that you do."

"What..?" Tadashi's furrowed featured deepened into a perplexed scowl as Yuki's gaze once again drifted towards the desk in thought.

"No..." Yuki lightly shook his head in self correction as he completely disregarded the man's open confusion. "In fact...now I'm quite certain of it." He mused lightly to himself before looking to Tadashi once more. "You know _exactly_ why I'm here." Yuki held the man's fearful gaze with a horrifyingly impassive expression of his own. "And it _terrifies_ you."

"Why _are_ you here?" This came yet again repeated as Yuki's lips drew in a taut line of silence before finally answering.

"Because..." Yuki quipped, his words sharp and crisp as he held the man's gaze in a dangerous death lock. "...it was _you_ , Tadashi." This came firm without a hint or trace of hesitation or doubt. "Though I'm still not quite sure if it was _only_ you. But..." Yuki spoke, each word so completely relentless and unforgiving as they came down like the head of a hammer along a nail. "...I know." _Bam._ "It was you." _Bam._ " _You_ killed her." _**Bam**_.

"What on _earth_ are you talking about?!" Tadashi raised his voice in outrage as he came to the edge of his seat.

"I didn't want to believe it. _Couldn't._ At first." Yuki admitted to himself and the man before him as he once again disregarded Tadashi's indignation, his voice gaining a somber tone as he seemed to drift along distant thoughts and memories. "But...I think...that somewhere, maybe, a part of me always knew that it was you, Tadashi." His pale, scarred features...once so lifelessly stoic...now seemed to give life to a faint expression of dismal hurt, betrayal, and pain.

Everything seemed to make so much sense now. When he really thought about it. When he put the pieces together. The disconnected number from the anonymous call had simply been the last bit of proof he'd needed to be certain. It simply _had_ to be Tadashi. There was no one else.

No one else...that could have been able to keep such vital information from the public defender.

No one else...that would have allowed the prosecutor to benefit from such an overwhelmingly decisive victory by negligently withholding the _same_ information.

There was no one else...

"Ever since that day you _left_ me..." He murmured softly as he now made great effort to hold Tadashi's gaze. "...and _never_ looked back." But this vulnerable fragility came so brief, living and dying in the same breath as Yuki's features reclaimed a frighteningly impassive expression with the next fateful words spoken to his once beloved father figure.

" _You_ killed Tohru." This bold accusation came forced through taut lips. "Then...you did _everything_ in your power to make sure that all the blame fell on me. Throwing me to the wolves."

"How could you even _think_ such a thing?!" Tadashi yelled defensively in response to this harsh statement as his fingertips gripped and dug into the surface of his seat. "Be _rational_ , Yuki!" This came snapped in an authoritative demand as Yuki's lips pulled into an almost imperceptible frown.

"It's mercy, compassion and forgiveness I lack now, Tadashi." Yuki countered in calm, cool monotone towards the man's outburst as he offered this correction. " _Not_ rationality."

Tadashi fell mute, words failing him completely. And in that moment, Yuki knew that he had him. There was no more fight left in the man. No more denial. No more impassioned outrage. No more lofty rebuttals to Yuki's accusation.

Nothing.

Nothing but that damning silence that acted as proof of his guild before the man's voice manifested in an almost feeble whimper.

"What do you plan to do..?"

And...had Yuki had it in him...he might have actually smiled at this opportunistic question. But instead, he merely gave a flat reply.

"Only _everything_ that you did to _her._ "

 _Oh_ , how Yuki reveled in the man's expression of sheer horror of this statement and what it truly meant. Made privy to the precarious nature of his fate, Tadashi's eye widened in terror as Yuki absorbed his reaction with that same eerily expressionless mask.

"You can't!" Tadashi shouted in equal parts fearful disbelief.

"Oh really?" Yuki countered softly with the cant of his head, his expression blank and unreadable. "Why not?"

"Because this isn't you!" Tadashi's voice rose in its fervent urgency. "You're no killer, child!" These words came desperate in their search for some shred of mercy from this fate.

Yuki's eyes came downcast. His expression softened imperceptibly. As if, for a moment, he was willing to see reason. And, in this moment, Tadashi was filled with a sense of hope. That maybe...just maybe...his life might be spared tonight.

"No." Yuki spoke barely above a whisper as his gaze lingered along the desk. "No, I'm not." He admitted quietly with the small shake of his head. "You and I both know that." The truth of this graced his lips as he gave himself over to a small inhalation and pause. "But then..." This fell flat and empty before his eyes lifted from the desk to meet Tadashi's face once more, their depths filled with a darkness colder and deeper than any chasm or abyss as he uttered his next words. "...prison changes a man."

Tadashi was startled out of his horror stricken stupor as Yuki gave himself over to a small bout of laughter. Laughter that was so completely wrong and twisted like the smile that worked its way along his scarred features before Yuki finally managed to regain his composure with a labored sigh.

"I've _always_ wanted to say that." Yuki finally admitted through his dwindling amusement as Tadashi's withered features crumpled into an angered scowl.

"Don't be rash, child!" Tadashi hissed. "Do you truly understand what you're planning on doing?" The furrow of his brow deepened as he held Yuki's gaze, searching that impenetrable mask of nothingness. "Please..." He implored a little more softly. "Don't _do_ this. Don't throw your life away by rushing into something you're unprepared for." This plea stirred the deep familiar rumble of his voice. "Think this through, child..."

"Please, Tadashi." Yuki scoffed quietly, his voice falling in a flat, lifeless deadpan with the infinitesimal quirk of his brow. "Have you _ever_ known me to rush into _anything_ without giving it full consideration first?" These old familiar, nostalgic words...once so warm and teasing, meant to reassure...now came _so_ devoid of warmth that Tadashi hung his head to look away.

"No..." Tadashi admitted with the shake his head, eyes downcast and expression horrifically grim. "I suppose not."

"And this is no different..." Yuki uttered, bringing this shared memory to its death. "So this is what's going to happen." His voice took on an almost professional tone of one talking business. "You're going to tell me everything you did to her, Tadashi." He murmured before his voice took a slight edge in a cold, menacing deadpan. "And I mean _everything._ " The old man's features crumpled in an expression that looked almost pained to the young man's request.

"Why torture yourself with that, child?"

"...because..." Yuki's tone came equal parts firm and soft as he spoke plainly. "...I _need_ to know..."

"If I tell you." Tadashi's words slowed in hesitant apprehension. "If I admit to what I did..." His voice grew a little deeper with the thick rumble of his chest. "...do you really expect me to believe that you'll let me live?" This came dubious as he held Yuki's gaze, searching the child's lifeless expression for the answer to this question.

"What?" Yuki murmured with the small furrow and tilt of his head, seemingly taken aback by this question. "Whatever made you think _that_?" His brows knit together as he spoke with the baffled shake of his head. "Of _course_ I'm going to kill you, no matter _what_ you say." He scoffed. "But if you don't tell me the truth, Tadashi." He warned, his voice growing lower as he held his head slightly to the side. "If you _don't_ tell me what you did to her..." Yuki uttered in a frighteningly dark, lifeless voice. "...you should know that you'll be throwing yourself to the mercy of my imagination." He stated bluntly. "And believe me..." This came cautioned from lips held in a menacingly taut line. "...you _really_ don't want that."

"You _can't_ be serious." Tadashi paled to this threat, the blood having fled his face to leave him pallid and gaunt. "The child I watched grow into a man would _never_ be capable of such a thing." These words came in protest through bloodless lips, only to be met with that merciless and unforgiving stare.

"You really don't get it, do you?" Yuki's even tone chilled the air. "The 'child' you knew is _dead_ , Tadashi. You _murdered_ him when you killed her." This profession came as hollow and empty as his amethyst gaze. "...so...the truth of the matter is that you really have _no_ idea of what I'm 'capable' of now." His voice dropped to a quiet murmur with the ultimatum he offered. "So... _tell_ me."

Tadashi quickly considered his lack of options before his gaze fell in defeat.

"Rohypnol." He uttered the truth in hushed tones as he now openly admitted to his guild. "Laced in the wine sent to your room disguised as an anonymous wedding gift. For _both_ of you."

As he listened...and remembered...suddenly and without warning, Yuki's eyes stung with unshed tears. Tears repressed and too tightly bound in agony to surface and make themselves known. Without thought to the man speaking now, thick lashes fluttered closed against the torment of a single cherished memory. This one moment in time that he relived over...and _over_ again in his mind.

Gentle touches. Breathless sighs along soft moans that came captured and intertwined along sweet kisses. Warmth. Sounds. Sensations. Tender caresses filled with _so_ much trust and affection in a wondrous, wholly perfect giving and receiving of love.

The divine sanctity of her voice when she breathed his name as she allowed him the gift of discovering every inch of her with humbled, unworthy fingertips.

So much goodness in one single, beautiful moment that had made him feel so alive and complete. Unconsciously biting his lower lip with the sting of this precious memory, a single tear _finally_ released itself down his cheek from this unending chasm where his heart should be.

And...he remembered.

" _...we made love..."_

" _...then I ordered us room service..."_

" _We ate. We drank."_

" _...and I remember that I had started to fall asleep watching one her favorite shows..."_

He remembered.

He had been tired.

 _So_ very tired...

He'd always thought it had just been the effects of the day. Or the lavish dinner. Or the drinks afterwards.

But now? He knew.

And there was no way he could have ever protected her.

"I see..."

This came breathed through his pale lips as his lashes finally fluttered open. Brushing away the first, last, and only tear he had ever been able to shed over this loss before his haunted gaze met the guilty man once more.

"Did you do it yourself..?" This question hung in the air for a moment before Tadashi gave a small, silent nod as he spoke.

"Yes." This came a low rumble of admittance as he looked away. "I had to. To make sure." He mused to himself, his expression grim.

"Does Mother know?" Yuki asked, his tone lifeless and frighteningly devoid of any emotion as Tadashi's gaze lifted from the floor.

"No." He shook his head with the deep rumble of his words. "Though it wouldn't surprise me if she held the same suspicion you do, as cunning as she is." His weathered features held that same somber expression as he spoke. "But I made a point of never involving her in any of this." The deep rumble of his voice gave way to the sincerity of his words. "The less she knew, the better. And..." Tadashi's features shaped in a dismal expression of deep sorrow and regret towards what he was to say next. "...she never cared to know."

With the flutter of thick, dark lashes, Yuki allowed the brutality of this fact to rush through him. Wash up and over him as he released a small breath. But this, he could endure. _Had_ endured...his whole entire life. Since the day he was born. The harsh reality that all he really was to his mother. All he ever _would_ be. Was simply another one of her many business assets that had finally lost its use.

"It was quite painless, I promise." Tadashi's words drew Yuki's drifting attention as he spoke. "She never felt a thing, I swear it." His voice came low as he held Yuki's gaze. "I never meant for _any_ of this to happen." This followed the almost dismayed shake of his head. "I never meant to cause you harm or pain, child. You have to believe that." He implored, his words laced in desperation, begging to be believed. "I only meant to protect you."

"By murdering her?" Yuki scoffed with a bemused scowl. "By butchering her body like an animal? Then you just let me take the fall when you made that anonymous call." His stoic voice rose only slightly as he glowered at the man sitting on the couch across the room.

"The call..?" Tadashi's features grew pale and gaunt with his age and this news. "How...?" He stammered in surprise. "...how did you find out about that..?"

"I managed to find a good lawyer." Yuki quipped bitterly in a frosty deadpan, his gaze narrowed on the man before him as he fired off his next words.

"You _stole_ her from me, Tadashi."

"It was for your own good, child." Tadashi protested. "It was simply too dangerous for you _and_ your family to allow your marriage. With absolutely _nothing_ to stop her, your wife could have bled you completely dry and ruined us all." He forced this rebuttal. "This...was the only way I could see it ending, child." This came so forlorn, yet filled with righteous conviction as he spoke. "Any _other_ way would have surely spelled misfortune for you _and_ the Sohma name."

"Even so..." Yuki effortlessly brushed away this atrocious excuse. "Even if it would have ended badly between us, Tadashi...it's what I had wanted. All I ever wanted was her, and you took her away from me." His cold, lifeless gaze holding little leniency for the man who professed to have his best interest. "You took _everything_ from me."

"Don't do this. I'm begging you, child." Tadashi implored, begging for clemency for this unforgivable sin as he attempted once again to show the young man reason. "This is premeditated murder you're talking about..." This came but a breathless whisper as he held Yuki's gaze. "You'll surely go back to prison for this." But the threat of imprisonment as consequence for his calculated crime only seemed to cause Yuki's features to shape themselves in whimsical nothingness.

"You know," Yuki considered the outcome of his own fate, eyes downcast to the desk as he spoke. "that thought doesn't scare me like it once did." He mused lightly, brushing off Tadashi's warning. "And there's nothing out there that I want," This came just a bit colder as he lifted his gaze once more. "save for this."

"Is this _really_ what _Tohru_ would have wanted for you?" Tadashi made this last desperate attempt at saving his own life as he called upon the name of Yuki's deceased wife. "Is _this_ justice?" He asked, holding the young man's merciless gaze as the two quietly regarded each other in these final moments.

"Funny thing about that." Yuki's voice came low and pensive in its hauntingly monotonous tone. "Someone once told me that it's rarely ever considered 'justice' when you take matters into your own hands..." He reflected over the words Akito had once told him when they had first met.

...after...

After he'd...

Yuki shook his head, clearing his mind of these dark thoughts as he surfaced to the present.

"...I didn't understand what he had meant by that back then. But now..." He murmured, his words as dark, black and devoid of life as his gaze as his voice dropped to nothing but a breathless whisper. "...I think that I do."

Tadashi hunched forward and hung his head, his gaze to the floor as he heard the quiet shift of his desk chair indicating that the occupant had relinquished his seat. Closing his eyes, he focused on the sound of approaching steps from across the room. And then...he waited. Waited until the room settled back into silence as he felt a presence come ominously close...just in front of him.

"So then..." He murmured in a deep rumble as he gave himself over to a doleful sigh of defeat and acceptance. "this is it?" He asked the looming figure, keeping himself in the dark as he held his eyes shut. "We end...like this?"

"We do." Tadashi heard Yuki's disembodied voice murmured lightly, having grown closer as Yuki dropped to his haunches in front of the old man.

A tender hand reached to brush against Tadashi's cheek before gently coaxing his face up as his eyes lifted to meet lifeless pools of Amethyst. Yuki's lips were held in a taut line, his expression cold and unreadable as the two regarded each other.

"But you and I?" Yuki spoke in hushed tones mere inches away from Tadashi now, his gentle touch and depthless orbs commanding the old man's attention. "We'll see each other again in Hell."

The two were held in this seemingly timeless moment together. With these words that bound and seal their shared fate. A dark and brutal fate steeped in pain.

Pain...and death.

"I'm so sorry it had to come to this, child." Tadashi finally spoke, his voice but a fragile whisper as his gaze peered straight through the young man stooped before him. "I really am."

And Yuki gave a faint nod of agreement as he held Tadashi's somber expression.

"I know, Tadashi." Yuki whispered, his voice coming to match the melancholy tone of his father figure. "So am I." He admitted softly as he produced a small, plain, handled knife, staring at the man as the two held each others gaze. "Because...unlike my Tohru..." He pushed the blade into Tadashi's soft abdomen, twisting the wound open as the man let out a low blood gurgled moan without offering up so much as fight or protest against this quiet act of violence. "...you're going to feel _everything_..." And Yuki ever so slowly tugged the knife from its entrance point up through the man's chest cavity, drawing first blood as it poured from the wound and spilled past Tadashi's pale grimacing lips.

…

The soft, metallic, chime-like ring of a bell heralded their arrival, and Kyo stepped through the threshold, letting his girlfriend go before him as they entered the low lit bar. When Hitomi claimed his hand, Kyo found himself truly and wholly at ease in this place. With her.

Sure, this place was a bit tacky. A dive at best. And probably one of the most gauche bars on the block with its decor and design. But...Kyo liked it here. Like himself, this place was a little unrefined and rough around the edges. But it was familiar, like a home away from home. It felt normal. Kyo had never been one for gratuitous extravagance and snobbish sophistication. His adoptive father, Kazuma, had instilled the value of hard work and humility...never living beyond one's means. And after a solid week of being wined and dined by his firm in some of the finest places in Tokyo City, Kyo found that he desperately _needed_ a sense of normalcy.

To return to his roots.

What he needed was a night out and some drinks in a place where he felt completely comfortable. Where he could truly be himself. So tonight he decided to take Hitomi and meet up with a close friend of theirs to _properly_ celebrate his recent success with the Sohma murder case.

"Yo! Kyonkinchi!" This came hollered through the noise of conversation and few televisions mounted to the walls of the bar to gain his attention as Kyo openly grimaced in a show of displeasure towards this sobriquet. "About damn time you showed up!" The man at the bar jeered with a playful grin plastered along his face. "It's just like you to come late to you're own party."

"Yeah, well," Kyo scoffed as he and his girlfriend reached the bar to greet Kyo's long time friend Seiichi. "It's not _my_ fault we're late." He quipped. "Traffic was a bitch, and the taxi driver had _no_ idea where we were going."

"That's what you get for taking public transportation on a Friday night." His friend countered with a cheeky grin as Kyo made an effort not to roll his eyes.

"I'd rather not have to deal with parking in this area."

"Dude..." Seiichi teased playfully with the raise of an eyebrow. "Do you even _own_ a car?"

"Shut up, Seiichi." Kyo bit out, giving his friend a scowl as the man simply took a sip of the drink he'd already ordered before they had arrived.

"Come on, Kyo." He heard this gently cooed over the sounds of bar, the sound of Hitomi's voice in his ear an instant salve to his irritation. "He's just jealous that you can actually afford a car and he can't." She giggled out, earning her a playfully exaggerated, hurt expression from the man in question.

"Awe, Hitomi. Baby." Seiichi murmured through the beginnings of a Cheshire grin to the beautiful woman at Kyo's side. "Don't be like that." He joked, earning a smile from Kyo's girlfriend. "You know...you can do _so_ much better than this jackass here." The man indicated to Kyo, grinning as Hitomi began to laugh, looping her arm in Kyo's as she leaned into him.

Making him feel like the man that she needed.

"What?" Wide eyed, delicate brows raised, Hitomi gave the small tilt of her head to their friend. "Like _you_ , Seiichi?"

"Well you know," Seiichi mused to himself, comically stroking his non-existent beard in thought. "now that you mention it...I _am_ in the market for a girlfriend, as it where."

"Hm..." Hitomi pursed her lips as the man took another generous sip of his drink. "No car _and_ no girl..." She joked playfully as she held a little tighter to Kyo's muscular arm. "Why, I do believe you're quite the catch, Seiichi." And even Kyo had to laugh at this witty comeback from his girlfriend.

"It's about time somebody noticed." Seiichi barked a laugh as he raised his glass to the tender. "Yo, bar tender!" He hollered over the buzz of noise swirling around them. "Get these fine people some drinks!" At his friend's direction to the tender of the bar, Kyo pulled out his wallet from his slacks.

"Don't even _think_ about it, Kyon-Kyon." Seiichi quipped, that stupid grin plastered all over his face. "Tonight's my treat."

"I can get my own drinks, Seiichi." Kyo muttered, looking away self-contentiously towards the offer and yet another pseudonym.

"I know you can." Seiichi countered. "And with the way your career is going to be taking off, you better believe that I'll be calling in favors, brother." He nudged Kyo playfully as the two met each others gaze. "But for now...tonight's on me." His voice drew a little softer, his expression a little more serious as he gave a nod that Kyo returned.

"Thanks."

As the couple were brought their first drinks, and their friend yet another, Kyo settled himself next to his friend as Hitomi claimed the bar stool next to him. Seiichi raised his glass in celebratory salute as the two followed his gesture.

"To Kyo." Seiichi grinned as he led this toast.

"To Kyo." Hitomi echoed as the three tapped glasses.

Kyo reveled and basked in this moment with the rare few he deeply cared for. The small, inner circle of those who cared for him. Really cared.

"I'm really proud of you." The warmth and sent of Hitomi's whispered words of praise in his ear mingled with the pleasant sensation of the alcohol, and a strange thought surfaced to Kyo's mind.

Something that his client had said to him.

That if he loved Hitomi. _Really_ loved her. He would marry her.

There were so few people in this world that he trusted. _Truly_ trusted. And no matter how hard he had tried to insulate and close off certain parts of himself...in the end...he'd never allowed _anyone_ to get as close to him as she was. Never. And he simply couldn't imagine his life without her. Though he'd never really given himself over to thoughts of marriage, every possible future he saw in his life always included her. And now that this seed had been firmly planted in his brain, there seemed to be little else Kyo could think about when she was this close to him.

This thought was all consuming. And it left Kyo feeling that maybe he wanted _more_.

That, maybe, he might just be ready.

With the successful appeal of the Sohma murder case, there was little stopping him. The law firm he worked for was already offering him even more enticing, high profile cases. And it was only a matter of time before his career _really_ took off and bore fruit. He had no doubt that with the fame he'd gained from his victory that, within the year at least, he would either make partner at his firm or be able to finally go into private practice like he'd always wanted.

His future was bright. And everything was finally falling into place for him. There was only one thing left. One piece missing, when he finally slowed himself down and stopped to think about it.

And that one thing...was her.

It _killed_ him that Sohma Yuki was right. And he would _never_ be able admit to anyone, least of all Hitomi, that he had been so affected by this man. It was disturbing, to say the least. Because, if truth be told, Kyo had no idea how to even go about explain this. The almost macabre nature of how _Sohma Yuki,_ a man he hardly knew...a man accused and convicted of brutally murdering his own wife...had actually managed cause him to reflect on the relationship with his girlfriend. But as he lifted his glass to his lips, a small smile formed along the rim and he settled himself with this single thought.

That when he found the right ring...he was going to marry her.

…

Yuki reclined himself on the sofa, allowing the stillness of this moment to consume him entirely as he sat next to the lifeless body next to him. His mentor and father figure hadn't lasted long, expiring some time ago from the wounds Yuki had inflicted. But...he hadn't stopped himself.

Even _after_ Tadashi had died.

With Tohru's passing, he'd lost such a vital part of himself.

The part...that would have told him that what he'd just done was _so_ very wrong.

Instead, he simply continued about his work, methodically carving along the old man's body until Tadashi's corpse mirrored the horrific images of his wife. The ones that had been forever burned into his memory. And when his work was finally done, the man's body practically disemboweled with the way it now slumped over, Yuki sat in silence. Staring at the wall before him. Trying to focus on this moment, and what it felt like.

What it _really_ felt like.

And...the scary thing...was that it _felt_ like _nothing_. This moment. It felt like a deep... _always_ blank... _endless_ nothing.

He felt absolutely nothing, as he sat next to the lifeless corpse beside him. He didn't feel remorse over what he'd done. Or guilt. Or even a sense of righteous vindication.

All he felt. All he had been left with. Was _nothing_.

Willing himself to move, Yuki's blood soaked hand began to search the body next to him before stained fingertips finally discovered what they had been looking for. The deceased man's cell phone. His bloody fingers went about their work delicately typing in the number before Yuki lifted the devise to his ear.

And then. He waited.

 _'Tokyo City Police Department.'_ The calm professional, feminine voice opened the line. _'What is the state of your emergency?'_

"I'd like to report a murder." Yuki murmured in a cool, impassive tone, throwing the dispatcher off guard.

 _'...are you okay, sir..?'_ She asked in a slight stall before regaining her detached, professional demeanor.

"Yes." Yuki responded flatly. "I'm fine."

 _'Where's the location of this crime?'_ The disembodied voice asked, and Yuki responded dutiful with the address of Tadashi's residence.

 _'The police and emergency responders are on their way, sir.'_ The woman spoke through calm, soothing tones meant to ease this anonymous reporter. _'Are you in need of medical assistance?'_

"No." Yuki murmured monotonously before repeating himself. "I said that I'm fine." This came a hollow echo before he reengaged the woman on the phone. "But I _do_ need to ask you a favor, Miss."

 _'What is it that you need, sir?'_ The woman asked in that same soothing, professional tone.

"Will you please inform the authorities that I will be in the home when they arrive. Tell them I am unarmed, and willing to comply when they come to apprehend me." Yuki made this request in hopes of avoiding any unnecessary struggle or misunderstanding with the police when they made their arrest.

 _'What..?'_ Yuki heard the woman breathe into the phone, her voice taking on an edge of horrified dread. _'Excuse me..?'_

"Please, Miss." Yuki murmured in a cold whisper. "Just tell them."

Then...he hung up.

And waited.

Placing the phone along the surface of the couch, Yuki once again searched the man's corpse before finding the pack of cigarettes he'd hoped Tadashi would have had on him. Helping himself to one from the pack, he lit it with the lighter he had discovered earlier when Tadashi had been out.

Taking a drag of the cigarette now stained with the blood from his hands, Yuki gave a small, contemplative sigh of smoke from his slender nose.

He had never understood why.

Why he had lived. Why he had endured so much pain and darkness, and survived. Why his heart had continued on, even when there had been absolutely nothing left of his soul. Of who he had once been. When he'd had her. He had never understood why...until now.

Maybe...he had continued on after her death _precisely_ for this moment of vengeance. And now that he had the retribution and justice he'd so longed for, there was nothing left for him now. Nothing. And he welcomed this nothingness like an old friend as he took another drag of his last cigarette as a free man.

Holding the cigarette poised between his bloody fingers, Yuki retrieved something from the inside pocked of his attractive suit jacket where the murder weapon had once been concealed. The small, Polaroid photo of his wife.

The one he'd taken of her gazing out the window of their hotel room on their honeymoon in New York City.

Gingerly grasping it with his sullied fingertips, Yuki took another pensive drag of his cigarette as his thoughts in these final moments came filled with her. It was so strange. Even like this...with _just_ her photo...he felt so unworthy of being in her presence. After what he had just done. In the solitude of this moment, with his wife, Yuki could almost hear her tormented screams over his actions. He knew that, up there in Heaven, she wept for him now and what he had become.

Their souls had been so closely woven together and intertwined as one that, even through the impossible distance of life and death that separated them, he could sense this.

And he knew that he somehow deserved this silent condemnation. A part of him knew full well that he was just as much to blame for her death as Tadashi. Because he knew, without a doubt, that she would be alive now had he not loved her so much. But...quite selfishly...despite this disheartening knowledge, Yuki couldn't bring himself to regret having met her. Known her.

...loved her...

And, in the end, having these last moments of freedom filled with thoughts of her.

Lacing his lips with the blood stained cigarette, Yuki held the lighter underneath the photograph. His thumb flicked the metallic spark wheel, birthing the flame that slowly consumed the edge of the cherished Polaroid. As the picture curled under the destructive heat Yuki simply watched in silence as his wife's image was reduced to nothing but ash before he dropped the remnants to the floor below him to spare his fingers the burn.

Then he reclaimed what was left of his dwindling cigarette between his soiled fingers.

It was finished. His purpose, accomplished. And now there was nothing else left. He could finally disappear. Allow himself to quietly fade away into this nothingness that consumed him. This unrelenting winter. A deep, bitter cold that he had been so very afraid of. Once. Almost a lifetime ago. Because he knew that if it had claimed him back then, there would have been no escape from the lifeless world of stark black and white and endless shades of bleak, hopeless gray. Though this seemed to hardly matter now that this fate had found him all the same.

But...at long last...it was _finally_ over.

Flashing lights of blue, white, and red pulled his gaze from the scorched spot below as his eyes raised to the clock on the wall. The police had made good time. With the final drag of his spent cigarette, Yuki stood and dropped the end to the hardwood floor, snuffing it out along the elegant surface. Slipping off his finely tailored suit jacked and placing it next to the corpse on the sofa, Yuki rolled up the sleeves of his button down dress shirt revealing his forearms and scarred wrists. Making it all the easier to be searched.

Having prepared himself, Yuki turned and quietly exited the private study into the darkness just beyond the threshold. Those flashing lights came even more dazzling as they splashed along the walls of the unlit room. The sound of approaching officers could be heard from just beyond the front door. But...Yuki was ready. Turning his back to the door, Yuki gracefully dropped to his knees, his arms slack at his sides and fingers splayed as his gaze focused on the lights that danced along the walls before the sound of the front door being forced opened completely shattered the silence.

"Police! Hands in the air!" This came a deep barreled scream of a demand meant to intimidate, and Yuki slowly raised his guilty, incriminating hands in a show of docile submission and compliance as long slender fingertips came laced around the back of his head.

"I'm unarmed and alone." Yuki announced flatly before he was roughly man handled and pat down.

As Yuki's bloody hands were forcefully manipulated and cuffed behind his back, his eyes remained fixed on the wall in front of him. But unlike when he had been apprehended the night of his wife's murder, Yuki found himself utterly unafraid. He had prepared himself for this. He was ready. Two of the other officers moved forward down the darkened hall. Towards the private study. And as they approached the threshold, Yuki heard one of them let out a horrified, gasped curse at what they saw.

At what he had done.

Then he was painfully gripped by his arm and pulled from his submissive position on the floor. Led away like a docile lamb to slaughter.

He was ready to go.

…

"So, I gotta ask, man." This came lowly murmured through the buzz of levity and various conversations swirling around them as Kyo furrowed his brows. "Why?" Setting the dwindling glass of his second drink on the bar, he gazed questioningly at his long time friend

"Hm?"

"Why do it?" Seiichi mumbled with a shrug as he took another swallow of his own drink.

"Do what?" Kyo asked, wondering what exactly his friend was getting at.

Was Seiichi somehow asking Kyo's thoughts on the possible motive behind his latest case?

Why someone would murder a beautiful young woman, then attempt to frame her husband for the crime?

Or was his friend somehow implying that he still believed Kyo's client to be guilty, and wanted to know why the man had murdered his own wife in cold blood...

But Seiichi simply offered a cockeyed smirk to Kyo's bemused expression.

"Why defend someone who's more than likely guilty as sin?"

Ah...

So it was _that_ question.

The one every defense attorney inevitability faced over the course of their career.

When the world was filled with _so_ much evil. When human beings committed some of the worst atrocities imaginable against each other. Why then aid the accused?

"Because..." Kyo murmured pensively in a quite voice as his gaze drifted to the glass along the counter. "...what if they're not?"

Kyo's words hung in the air as he found himself giving them some consideration. The warm haze of his second drink softening his thoughts, his feelings over this question came laced in a tone of idealistic nostalgia as he pondered his friend's question. Why choose to defend the guilty?

At first glance, most people just assumed that he was in it for the money. Though the potential for a lucrative career was far better on the side of the defense than the prosecution, Kyo had to admit that this had not been the first thing to entice him to the so-called 'dark side.' And honestly, it would have been far easier for Kyo to allow his friend to believe the same as everyone else. That it was for the money.

This would have been so much easier to explain than the truth.

Because the truth was that from the very moment he'd set foot along this path, during the impressionable first years of his education in the law, Kyo had viewed things... _differently_. In his first year of pre-law, when he had still been considering which future to choose, Kyo had come across such deeply profound words. An ideal, really. That the law is _reason._ _Free_ from passion. And as he went over case study after case study, Kyo found himself seeing the same thing. Over and over again.

That people were too often swayed by their emotions. And that these emotions were so easily manipulated and twisted when they believed someone truly guilty of a heinous crime. No matter the evidence for or against the defendant, people allowed their emotions to blindly rule their hearts instead of reason guiding their better judgment. And, in the end, these emotions seemed to weight too heavily on the outcome of the verdict.

A verdict that evolved from a desire for justice to a barbaric battle cry for righteous vindication. That the guilty should pay. That they should be punished. Kyo had to admit with a level of chagrin that he was far too bitter and disillusioned to believe in the 'goodness' and 'innocence' of people. Because he knew...no one was truly 'innocent.' But unlike his overzealous legal counterpart on the side of the prosecution, Kyo found himself strangely plagued by that ever-present twinge of doubt.

What if they weren't? Guilty.

"Innocent until _proven_ guilty." Kyo murmured lowly from his contemplative stupor, just above the noise of the bar. "Everyone deserves his day in court."

"Or _her_ day." Hitomi countered playfully with a small nudge as Seiichi gave a snigger of amusement.

"It may sound cliché," Kyo continued, regaining his friend's attention as the two carried on this conversation. "but I believe that justice should be open to _everyone._ " He met his friend's gaze. "I mean...what if it were _you_ , Seiichi?" He asked. "Wouldn't you want someone on _your_ side?" A small smile laced his lips. "And at the end of the day," Kyo's smile spread, turning just a bit smug as he spoke. "I saved a man's life."

"Damn." Seiichi muttered gruffly with the shake of his head. "Well, I guess I can't really argue with that." He conceded.

"Here's to saving the world..." This came murmured with a sardonic smirk of a smile to Kyo as Seiichi raised what was left of the drink in his glass in another toast. "...one scumbag criminal at a time." And a snort of amusement pushed through Kyo's nose as his girlfriend gave a lighthearted giggle at his expense.

"Screw you, Seiichi." The small, tight-knit group fell into laughter and another round of drinks was ordered.

As the night drew on, and the merriment continued, Kyo stepped away from the small celebration in his honor to use the lavatory. And with the way the room moved as he made his way to the men's room, he was grateful that he and Hitomi had arrived in a taxi. Splashing himself with cool water to gain a semblance of sobriety before rejoining his party, he gave a parting glance at his reflection. Kyo allowed himself an internal, self-deprecating snort. It was rare that he indulged in such celebration, and he knew he would be feeling the ramifications of this in the morning.

Sauntering across the room with this somewhat amusing, newly acquired swagger, Kyo carefully made his way back to the bar. Giving the small smirk of a smile as Hitomi sensed his presence, glancing over her shoulder at him, Kyo took the breath of a pause at her beauty.

And the way she smiled back at him.

Though this feeling of arousal at her glances might have been enhanced with the alcohol he had consumed, Kyo couldn't stop the pounding of his heart. Like a jackhammer slamming in his chest. Until it seized up and stopped all together. Bottoming out as it dropped to the pit of his stomach along with his expression.

"Kyo..?" Hitomi breathed his name, her exquisite features shaped in concern. "What's wrong?"

Kyo's expression remained peaked and almost pained as she realized he was no longer looking at her. But right _through_ her. Past her. At something else entirely that seemed to torment him.

"Kyo?" She tried again before a horrified gasp manifested from the side of her.

"Awe!" Seiichi exclaimed in a sharp hiss that drew Hitomi's attention away from her boyfriend. "Awe, shit!"

But none of this reached him. Hitomi's words. His friend's outburst. None of it even _touched_ him. Because all that he could see, was the horror that flashed across the small outdated television bolted to the wall just above the bar. The televised broadcast had been interrupted for a breaking news report.

There had just been a murder in a prestigious neighborhood.

The private residence now filmed taped off with police caution tape, marked as the scene of the crime.

Flashing lights from police and emergency response vehicles lighting the night as they danced along each surface in a hypnotic rhythm.

He couldn't hear what the woman said on the television. He didn't need to. Kyo's horrified gaze held transfixed on the television as the text along the bottom of the screen described what had just happened. And as the broadcast changed to footage documented from earlier in the evening, Kyo stood a frozen witness to this ghastly scene.

Sohma Yuki. Being escorted out of the domicile. By two police officers that gripped him from either side. His hands cuffed and bound behind his back as he was quickly ushered into one of the police vehicles. A stretcher lined with a black body bag soon following out the front door. And as the broadcast once again changed to the woman reporting this horrific tragedy, Kyo simply couldn't tear his gaze away from the caption running along the bottom of the screen.

Sohma Yuki...suspected in the murder of Sohma Company's private attorney, Akiyama Tadashi.

"Oh!" Hitomi gave a whimpered cry to this devastating news. "Oh, no!" Because, she knew.

 _Everyone_ knew.

Or _would_ know.

That in this very moment, fate had cruelly branded him as the man to be forever known for getting the infamous Ice Prince off death row for a murder charge. Only for the man to turn around and commit the very same crime.

But all that Kyo could hear. The only thing to reach him in the darkness where he was in his mind. Was that voice. That cold, lifeless voice.

 _'You_ _ **really**_ _don't get it,_ _ **do**_ _you.'_

"...no..."

 _'I could care_ _ **less**_ _about my freedom.'_

"...Kyo..."

 _'There is absolutely_ _ **nothing**_ _out there that I care about.'_

"...no..."

 _'What I_ _ **want.**_ _..'_

"Kyo, I'm so sorry."

 _'...is justice.'_

"No, no no!" Kyo's pained cry rent the air, his hands grasping the counter as he screamed. "You _stupid_ son of a bitch!" He felt his fingers grow bloodless and numb under the sheer force of his grip as a tremor ran itself through his arms. "What did you do?!"

As these words came spewed from his lips, Kyo found himself overcome with so many questions.

How long had he been planning this?

Had this been his intent the whole time?

How long had he suspected his family's lawyer?

Was it before he'd even retained Kyo's services?

...was it after..?

Kyo found himself submerged in the unforgiving, frigid waters of these questions and the emotions surrounding them. And he was drowning. Because he knew that the answers to these questions would _never_ be able to save him. Not now. Not from this crippling guilt that told him he was somehow responsible for this. Because in the end. In this life.

No one was truly innocent.

 **THE END**

Run

Run

Catch the sun before he

Slips away

Oh

Winter

Unreason's cold

Tenacity

Pause your

Nature

( _dance_ ) Dance with me, one more

Autumn day

( _come_ ) Come

( _come_ ) Prudence

( _come_ ) Come, reason to chase my

Light away

Catch me, catch me

No

Not this day

( _not this day_ )

Twilight fall

Upon all souls

Darkening our

Skin and bone

Soon I'll follow

Prudence home

Until then, just let me

Chase this sun

Soon enough I'll go

A winters way

( _soon_ ) Soon enough, though

Not this day

Soon enough I'll go

Winter's way

( _soon_ ) Soon enough-

Stay the winter

Oh, one more day

Leave me to my

Child's play

( _soon_ ) Soon enough, I'll

Go your way

( _soon_ ) Dance with me, oh, one more

Autumn day

( _soon_ ) Soon enough, I'll

Go your way

Soon enough-

( _though, not this day)_

Soon enough, though

Not this day

* * *

 **A/N: Please. PLEASE...don't kill me for this ending. Remember. You like me. And your life would be so empty without my witty prose.**

 **Lyrics featured in this epilogue are from the song "Autumn" by Puscifer. I know I KNOW. Terrible name for a band. Shut up. Stop laughing. And as a side note, I managed to go through this WHOLE entire story without a one of you mentioning the lyrics to Fallout Boy's "Twin Skeletons" at the beginning of each and EVERY chapter. Other musical insperation for this chapter and contenders for the ending song were "The U** **ndertaker (Renholder Mix)" by Puscifer,** **"Mad World" by Gary Jules and "Enjoy the Silence" remix by KI Theory.**

 **Other notable sources of inspiration for this story.**

" **The Lincoln Lawyer." Both the movie AND novel. Yes. I read the novel. Shut up and STOP laughing.**

" **The** _ **law is reason**_ **,** _ **free from passion**_ **." - Aristotle**

" **What does it really look like?"-"Here's the scary thing: it looks like nothing . . . It feels like a deep, always blank, endless nothing." - Hanna Baker: 'Thirteen Reasons Why'**

 **"It's mercy, compassion and forgiveness I lack. Not rationality." - The Bride 'Kill Bill'**

 **And Yuki's appearance behind the desk was directly inspired by the first chapter of Fandom Angst work "Back to Darkness."**

 **Well...my children...I leave you with this ending. I sincerely hope that, while it may not have been the ending most of you desired, that it was none the less satisfactory in tying everything together and bringing this tragedy to its end.**

 **From The High Queen, with love.**


End file.
